New president successful in Illinois
Ohio Dominican University’s next president will be Robert A. Gervasi, who has lead a smaller, Franciscan liberal arts university in Illinois.
He hopes to replicate at ODU, which has about 2,600 students, the success he’s had in nine years as president at Quincy University, where enrollment grew from fewer than 900 to about 1,300 students and the honors program grew from 33 students to 202.
“Our biggest success story has been to improve our academic profile,” said Gervasi, who has a
background in classics as well as an MBA in marketing from the Wharton School of Business.
Gervasi, 66, is expected to take over on June 26 for current ODU President Peter Cimbolic, who announced last year that he would retire after seven years in the position. ODU would not disclose Gervasi’s salary.
Gervasi said he knows that Ohio Dominican is, like many other small, private colleges, grappling with steep enrollment drops and budget deficits. “Frankly, the fact that it is in need of a turnaround helped make it attractive to me,” he said. “I am really excited by challenges like this.”
After earning his MBA, Gervasi spent 10 years doing marketing and publicrelations work in the private sector, including at BristolMyers and Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati He figured it would make him a better candidate for leadership in higher education, and ODU’s trustees apparently agree.
“As a sitting president, Bob has successfully navigated many of the challenges currently being experienced at small, private Midwestern universities, and we’re excited for him to bring his expertise to Ohio Dominican,” said ODU board chairman Tom Mueller in a statement.
Gervasi was a classics major as an undergraduate at Cincinnati’s Xavier University and is described as a lifelong enthusiast of Greek and Roman civilization and able to read or speak seven languages in addition to English. He has taught classics at numerous institutions and lectured as a Fulbright Scholar in Zimbabwe. He earned a doctorate in classics from Ohio State and has worked as CEO of the Institute for Study Abroad, a private, nonprofit organization based at Butler University in Indianapolis.
“The classics have never been more relevant,” Gervasi said. “All of these questions we’re facing today of how can we have a vibrant democracy, what is the nature of truth, are we in a ‘post-truth’ society? — those are all classical questions. Places like Ohio Dominican University, that offer a liberal-arts education, offer the best preparation for career success.”