Dr. Susan Huber appointed executive vice president and chief academic officer
Last June, when I appointed Dr. Susan Huber as interim executive vice president and chief academic officer at St. Thomas, I wrote that I believed her “exceptional interpersonal skills” and “admirable record of building partnerships” would serve her well in the position.
They certainly have. Dr. Huber has clearly fulfilled my hopes and expectations, and has performed to such a high degree of distinction that it gives me great pleasure to announce her permanent appointment as our executive vice president and chief academic officer, at the rank of full professor, effective today.
We had a strong pool of candidates for the position, and the search committee of faculty, administrators and students gave Dr. Huber a strong recommendation. I was grateful both for that recommendation and the additional opportunity to choose an individual who has had a close relationship with St. Thomas as an administrator, a professor and an alumna.
Dr. Huber first joined this community as a graduate student. She has two St. Thomas degrees – a master’s in curriculum and instruction and a doctorate in educational leadership. Her bachelor’s degree, in Latin and English, is from the College of St. Teresa.
Dr. Susan Huber
She has rich experience in Catholic education on the K-12 and higher education levels. She was an English teacher and principal of St. Andrew’s School in St. Paul and served as dean of continuing education and special programs at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota before returning to St. Thomas and our education faculty in 1992.
Within the School of Education here, she served as chair of the Teacher Education Department and as associate dean before she was appointed interim dean in 2006. She became the first dean of the College of Applied Professional Studies in 2007 after our decision to bring the School of Education and the Graduate School of Professional Psychology into the new college.
Dr. Huber’s many professional appointments include service on the governing board of the scholarly journal Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry and Practice, since 2006 and on the advisory board of the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning since last year. She is a former board member of the Convent of the Visitation School in Mendota Heights.
One of her first major decisions as executive vice president and chief academic officer will be to choose her successor as dean of the College of Applied Professional Studies. Dr. Bruce Kramer, who has served as interim dean since last summer, will continue in that position. Dr. Huber will convene a search committee shortly and hopes to choose a permanent dean as soon as possible.
I want to thank members of the 19-member search committee for Dr. Huber’s position for their fine work. They were Dr. John Abraham, Engineering; Dr. Susan Alexander, President’s Office; Dr. Angeline Barretta-Herman, Academic Affairs; Britney Bryant, Undergraduate Student Government; Jane Canney, Student Affairs; Dr. Corrine Carvalho, Theology; Edna Comedy, Human Resources; Dr. Nancy Hartung, Biology; Steve Hoeppner, Development; Dr. Marisa Kelly, College of Arts and Sciences; Dr. Lorman Lundsten, Opus College of Business; Thomas Mengler, School of Law; Dr. Bhabani Misra, Graduate Software; Dr. Michael Naughton, Catholic Studies; Dr. Agapitos Papagapitos, Economics; Dr. Brenda Powell, English; Dr. Christopher Puto, Opus College of Business; Jessica Rosenberger, graduate student; and Dr. Ann Ryan, College of Applied Professional Studies.
Please join me in congratulating Dr. Huber on her appointment!