| University Communications | For Immediate Release |
| Drew Wilson, Director, Media Relations | |
| 412.578.2095 (phone) | |
| 412.260.6807 (cell) | |
| 412.578.2080 (fax) | |
| agwilson@carlow.edu |
Pittsburgh, Pa. – Carlow University will install Suzanne K. Mellon, PhD, the tenth president in its history, on Saturday, April 5, 2014, at 11 a.m. in the Rosemary Heyl Theatre in Antonian Hall, located on the Carlow campus.
The installation ceremony will begin with a procession at 10:45 a.m. that will travel down the main Carlow driveway from Grace Library to the front door of Antonian Hall. Bagpipers will lead the procession, and those in the procession will be in full academic regalia (caps and gowns).
Michele Atkins, chair of the Carlow Board of Trustees will be the mistress of ceremonies, and she will have the honor of introducing the Most Reverend David Zubik, Bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, to give the invocation, and the Honorable Bill Peduto, Mayor of the City of Pittsburgh, who will offer greetings from city government.
The Reverend Dr. Dennis H. Holtschneider, president of DePaul University in Chicago, will deliver the Keynote Address. Anne Martindale Williams, the world-renowned principal cellist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and a 2012 Carlow Woman of Spirit®, will play Fantasy Pieces, Opus 73, by Robert Schumann. She will be accompanied on piano by Rodrigo Ojedo.
Additional presenters will include: Donald L. Francis, PhD, president of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania (AICUP), and Cynthia Zane, PhD, president of Hilbert College and a member of the Board of Directors of the Conference on Mercy Higher Education (CMHE), and Sister Deborah Troillett, RSM, a member of the Leadership Team of the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, the sponsor of the university, who along with Atkins, will have the honor of conferring the presidential medallion on Mellon.
Members of the Carlow community will actively participate in the ceremony. Ellie Wymard, PhD, director of the Master of Fine Arts in creative writing program, will lead the procession with the Presidential Mace. Joseph M. Roberts, PhD, associate professor and director of the Master’s program in professional counseling, will provide greetings on behalf of the faculty. Barbara Johnson, MEd, a Carlow alumna and the director of Diversity Initiatives at Carlow, will provide greetings on behalf of the Carlow staff. Allison Cox, a junior biology major, and the current president of the Student Government Association, will delivere greetings from the undergraduate student body. Elena Onofreiciuc, a senior nursing student, will offer greetings on behalf of adult undergraduate students. Nora Suehr, a graduate student in the Master of Business Administration (MBA) program, will provide greetings from Carlow’s graduate students. Alexandra Grace Plummer, an eighth grader at the Campus School of Carlow University, will give the greetings from the Campus School students, faculty, and staff.
Joanne Malenock, PhD, current president of the Alumni Association, will speak on behalf of the Alumni. Jan Beatty, an award-winning and nationally renowned poet, and faculty member at Carlow, will deliver an inaugural poem, titled “Sea Change.”
Music will play a major part in the ceremony as the Renaissance City Winds will play a musical prelude. Soloist Jasmine Muhammed, accompanied by Mark Trawka, both resident artists from the Pittsburgh Opera, will sing “America the Beautiful.”
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Editor’s Note: The news media is welcome to cover the Installation and Inauguration of Carlow University’s tenth president. Please contact Drew Wilson on his cell phone (412-260-6807) to arrange convenient, free parking.
About Carlow University
Located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Carlow University was founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1929. Offering both undergraduate and graduate programs, Carlow University is a comprehensive master’s institution dedicated to learner-centered education at the collegiate levels and at the elementary school level in the Campus School of Carlow University.
Tenth President of Carlow University
Suzanne Mellon, PhD, the tenth president of Carlow University, has outstanding experience in all facets of higher education administration and proven knowledge of the major issues facing higher education. She is a visionary leader whose creative outlook has helped to strengthen Carlow and inspire others. Dr. Mellon has a strong track record in strategic planning, academic program development, and community collaboration.
Dr. Mellon, who also is well versed in Catholic higher education and the mission of the Sisters of Mercy, was serving as the executive vice president of St. Anselm College in Manchester, NH, when the Carlow University Board of Trustees selected her to be the next president. At St. Anselm, she was the chief operating officer and second in command, with responsibility for all areas of the college.
Prior to St. Anselm, Dr. Mellon held a distinguished series of faculty and administrative positions, first at Wayne State University and then the University of Detroit Mercy, which saw significant growth in enrollment and programmatic offerings while Dr. Mellon was dean of its College of Health Professions and McAuley School of Nursing.
A native of Michigan, Dr. Mellon graduated summa cum laude from the University of Michigan with a BSN in nursing, a master’s degree from the Ohio State University, and a PhD in philosophy from Wayne State University. She is a graduate of the Institute for Management and Leadership in Education (MLE) at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. As president of Carlow, Mellon holds the academic rank of Professor.
She is a leader in higher education, where her influence spans multiple arenas. She was an accreditation evaluator for the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, and the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. She previously served as an evaluator for the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools and as a consultant for the Ohio Board of Regents. Her scholarship has resulted in published articles in national journals and invitations to present at national and international conferences on a variety of health topics, including cancer survivorship and the risk for inherited breast/ovarian cancer.
She is the recipient of numerous professional, leadership and service awards, such as the 2009 recipient of the “Integrity Matters” award from the College of Health Professions Honors Council, University of Detroit Mercy. In 2008, she received the Symond Gottlieb Award for Outstanding Health Care Leadership from the Greater Detroit Area Health Council. Additionally, she was recognized for outstanding contributions to the Urban Health Education Center by the University of Detroit Mercy.
Her community and professional activities have included practice as a psychiatric clinical nurse specialist in several community organizations, service to the underserved in the community, higher education consultation, and service on the board of trustees of numerous non-profit health care and educational organizations.