President Dr. Eugene J. Cornacchia, was inaugurated today as the 22nd President of St. Peter’s College in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Cornacchia is the first lay President in the Jesuit’s college’s 135-year-old history.
Representatives from approximately 100 Colleges, and Universities and Educational Organizations, St. Peter’s Board of Trustees, Board of Regents, faculty, administration, staff, students, celebrated the Inauguration and over 400 guests, including area dignitaries, attended the inauguration.
”Gene,” as he is know to colleagues and friends, has worked for more than a quarter century to shape and strengthen Saint Peter’s College as a leading Jesuit institution known for academic excellence and innovation. During his past 26 years at the College, he has won a reputation among students, faculty and professional staff as a dedicated, accessible and effective leader.
When he was appointed in May 2007, following the untimely death of former President, Fr. James N. Loughran, S.J., Cornacchia noted he was “a product of Jesuit education” and stressed his presidency will be “always, always committed” to the Jesuit mission at Saint Peter’s.
As the College’s Academic Dean and then as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Cornacchia worked collaboratively with very talented individuals to lead initiatives that increased enrollment while significantly raising academic standards and implemented more than $10 million in capital projects.
Dr. Cornacchia, 53, received a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1976 and a master’s degree in political science in 1979 from Fordham University. He also earned his Ph.D. in political science (with a focus on Urban, Ethnic and Electoral Politics) from Fordham University in 1985.
Dr. Cornacchia and his wife, AnnMarie, recently relocated from Westchester County to Guarini House, a residence on the college’s Jersey City campus. They have two daughters, Lauren, an accountant, and Katherine, a sophomore at the College of Mount Saint Vincent.
ABOUT SAINT PETER’S COLLEGE
Saint Peter’s College is one of twenty-eight Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States and the only one in New Jersey.
Saint Peter’s College, founded in 1872, is a Jesuit, Catholic, co-educational, liberal arts college in an urban setting that seeks to develop the whole person in preparation for a lifetime of learning, leadership and service in a diverse and global society. Committed to academic excellence and individual attention, Saint Peter’s College provides education, informed by values, primarily in degree-granting programs in the arts, sciences, and business, to resident and commuting students from a variety of backgrounds.
The College has an enrollment of approximately 3,000 full-time and part-time students representing a remarkably diverse student body that originates from throughout the United States and from more than 60 countries around the world.
Saint Peter’s College has an 18-acre main campus in Jersey City, a branch campus for adult learning in Englewood Cliffs, and several off-site locations.