Sister Anne Munley, IHM, to Retire After Nine Years as Marywood University President
SCRANTON, PA (January 4, 2016)—Sister Anne Munley, IHM, Ph.D., has announced her plans to retire after she completes her ninth year as President of Marywood University in June 2016. During her presidency, Marywood celebrated its Centennial, opened the region’s first and only School of Architecture, celebrated the largest graduating classes in the university’s history, and witnessed a renewal of the legacy of its founding religious congregation—the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
In her letter to the university community today, Sister Anne stated that, “After deep thought, reflection, and prayer, I have decided that this will be the final academic year in which I will serve as President of Marywood University. I have informed the Board of Trustees that I will be retiring as President, effective June 30, 2016.”
Since 2007, when she was inaugurated as the eleventh president of the Catholic university in Scranton, PA, Sister Anne has led Marywood through its highest enrollment growth, expansion of its business program to become the School of Business and Global Innovation, and philanthropic support leading to a Centennial year in 2015 that included the completion of the largest expansion project in the university’s history.
“Sister Anne has been an outstanding leader and visionary for Marywood University,” said Ann R. Henry, Ph.D., Chair of the Marywood University Board of Trustees and an alumna of the university. “Our entire Marywood community is grateful for her guidance, her commitment to our students, and her passion for education in the Marywood IHM tradition.”
Just two years after her inauguration, Sister Anne oversaw, in 2009, the opening of the region’s first and only School of Architecture. On September 8, 2015, Marywood celebrated the 100th anniversary of its founding by dedicating two multi-million dollar facilities, the $40 million Learning Commons, as well as the Morgan Motherhouse Memorial Garden on the site of the first building of the newly formed college in 1915. The Learning Commons includes a Center for Communication Arts with the most advanced technology in the region for television, radio, animation, and sound recording and news production.
According to Board Chair Ann Henry, “The Board of Trustees will be announcing in early February the plans for a comprehensive national search to recruit and select the successor to Sister Anne.”