Kimo Ah Yun will serve as the next president of Marquette University, the university announced Wednesday.
The Marquette Board of Trustees unanimously elected Ah Yun as the school's 25th president at a special board meeting, a news release says. He will be the first person of color to lead Marquette and only its second lay president.
“Dr. Kimo Ah Yun is a proven leader who has demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to Marquette University’s Catholic, Jesuit mission, vision and values," Board Chair Todd Adams said. "As provost and acting president, he has been a leader in the university’s proactive efforts toward continuous improvement to ensure Marquette thrives for generations to come. Marquette is in a strong position in a challenging environment for higher education, and the Board of Trustees has full confidence in his ability to provide the stability necessary to lead Marquette forward to achieve our vision of being among the most innovative and accomplished Catholic, Jesuit universities in the world.”
Ah Yun has served as Marquette's acting president since June 10, a day after news broke that the university's former president, Michael Lovell, died while on a trip to Italy.
Ah Yun joined Marquette in 2016 as dean of the Diederich College of Communication. He was named acting provost in 2018 and permanent provost in 2019.
Prior to joining Marquette University, he was associate dean of the College of Arts and Letters at California State University, Sacramento, where he also served as chair of the Department of Communication Studies, director of the Center for Teaching and Learning, and professor of communication studies.
Watch: Kimo Ah Yun to serve as next president of Marquette University
“At Marquette, we take seriously our mission to serve God by serving our students. My top priority is ensuring we continue to provide a transformational education for our students so that our graduates are problem-solvers and agents of change,” Ah Yun said. “Grounded in its Catholic, Jesuit mission, Marquette was founded on the promise of educational access, and as we approach our 150th anniversary, students remain at the heart of all that we do. I look forward to continuing to work closely with our faculty, staff, students, alumni and Milwaukee community in our continuous pursuit of excellence, faith, leadership and service.”
Lovell, Ah Yun's predecessor, was in Rome with his wife and members of the Society of Jesus and the Marquette University Board of Trustees on a Jesuit formation pilgrimage when he fell ill and was taken to a hospital.
He had battled sarcoma, a rare form of cancer, for the past three years.
TMJ4 reporter James Groh interviewed Ah Yun in 2023 when three different schools he attended were seeded in the same region of the NCAA tournament. You can watch that interview below:
Marquette University held a news conference at 3 p.m. to discuss the announcement.
At the press conference, Ah Yun was presented with a jersey bearing the number 25, symbolizing his role as the 25th president in the university's history.
You can watch the full news conference in the video player below.
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