SHARE

Nemec To Be Installed As Ninth President Of Fairfield University Friday

FAIRFIELD, Conn. — Fairfield University will inaugurate its ninth president, Mark R. Nemec, Ph.D., on Friday.

Nemec will join the Fairfield community with his wife, Suzanne, and their four children Alex, Teddy, Philip and “Kit.”

Nemec will join the Fairfield community with his wife, Suzanne, and their four children Alex, Teddy, Philip and “Kit.”

Photo Credit: Contributed

The festive day begins with a 10 a.m. Mass at the University’s Egan Chapel of St. Ignatius Loyola presided over by the Bishop of the Bridgeport Diocese, the Most Rev. Frank Caggiano, who will also give the invocation at the beginning of the inauguration.

State and local representatives, presidents of universities and their representatives and students, faculty and staff are expected to attend.

The installation ceremony begins at 1:30 p.m. on Bellarmine Lawn. A reception will immediately follow.

Nemec's appointment was effective July 1.

Previously, he was dean of the William B. and Catherine V. Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies at the University of Chicago.

“I am honored and delighted by the opportunity to lead and to serve Fairfield University at this critical moment in the evolution of higher education,” Nemec said when his appointment was announced. “I’m particularly excited to be joining a Jesuit university, having been steeped in and formed by the principles of Jesuit education as a young man. Fairfield is a university with a reputation for excellence and one that is clearly rising in stature."

Nemec will also join the politics department as professor in the College of Arts and Sciences.

"I look forward to working with everyone in the Fairfield community to ensure that we continue to evolve to meet the needs of students and society today in order to create a model for 21st-century higher education while remaining true to our core values so we may exceptionally educate men and women for others.”

A graduate of Loyola High School, Jesuit College Preparatory, in Los Angeles, Nemec earned a doctorate in political science and a master's in education from the University of Michigan and a bachelor's in English at Yale, where he was an All-Ivy League rugby player.

Early in his career he taught American politics as a visiting assistant professor at Davidson College and as an instructor at the University of Michigan.

Before his tenure at the University of Chicago, Nemec served as president and chief executive officer of Eduventures, a Boston-based information services firm that provides research and consulting to the higher education community. He previously had been a member of the executive team of Forrester Research, a provider of similar services to the technology industry.

Nemec replaced the Rev. Jeffrey von Arx, who announced last year that he was stepping down.

Nemec joined the Fairfield community with his wife, Suzanne, and their four children Alex, Teddy, Philip and Kit.

to follow Daily Voice Westport and receive free news updates.

SCROLL TO NEXT ARTICLE