SPOKANE, Wash. – The Gonzaga University Board of Trustees elected Dr. Thayne M. McCulloh as Gonzaga’s 26th president, succeeding Rev. Robert J. Spitzer, S.J. McCulloh has served as interim president since Rev. Spitzer’s departure in July 2009.

“Over the past two years we have looked at a number of potential candidates,” said John Luger, chair of the Board of Trustees. “What we have in Thayne McCulloh is an exceptionally talented individual who has the background, the vision and the leadership skills to lead Gonzaga to a very bright future, and how fortunate we are to have this leader in our own community. His work in championing the mission of Gonzaga, and his work this past year as interim president, has given us every confidence that he will be Gonzaga’s next great leader.”

McCulloh, 45, a social psychologist, has been engaged by Gonzaga University in a wide range of academic and administrative positions over the past 20 years. With this appointment, he becomes Gonzaga’s first regularly appointed lay president.

“Thayne McCulloh has proven in his long service to the University that he shares all our Jesuit values of education,” said Rev. Steve Kuder, S.J., rector of the Gonzaga Jesuit community and a Trustee. “I think I speak for the University Jesuit community when I say that we welcome him wholeheartedly as our first lay president. I cannot imagine a more qualified or distinguished leader for Gonzaga at this pivotal time in our history.”

Gonzaga’s bylaws, which stipulate that the president must be a Jesuit, have been suspended by the University’s Board of Members to allow Gonzaga to appoint a highly regarded leader, and an individual who has consistently aspired to promote the Jesuit mission to the highest degree throughout his work here.

“I am humbled by the confidence the Board and GU community have placed in me with this appointment,” said McCulloh. “Gonzaga is poised for even greater success and opportunity, and I am privileged to play a role in advancing its important mission as a Jesuit, Catholic and humanistic university. Our world is filled with boundless technological advancement and staggering challenges due to poverty, economic instability, and international conflict. In this context, our Jesuit-led mission is more important than ever. We are engaged in a transformational process with our students, preparing them to first and foremost be well-educated women and men for others who will make a long-lasting impact on our community and world.”

Since the beginning of his work at Gonzaga, McCulloh’s focus has been on the promotion of academic excellence, development of a strong community, and institutional health in the context of a vibrant Jesuit and Catholic learning environment. As interim president, these objectives have remained his primary focus as he has engaged with the local business community and alumni nationwide.

McCulloh has been integral to Gonzaga’s successful enrollment management effort over the past 12 years. Enrollment reached an all-time high last fall with a total of 7,682 students enrolled. As interim president, McCulloh has engaged the campus community in an effort to define the appropriate size of Gonzaga’s student body without compromising the University’s high academic and student life standards. In the face of last year’s record-breaking freshmen class, which topped 1,200 students, this effort will result in an intentionally more selective fall 2010 freshman class.

McCulloh also has helped navigate Gonzaga’s course through the economic recession, implemented new resource allocation strategies to greater effect and focus dollars on student services, and restructured his administration for greater accessibility and efficiency. Finally, this month McCulloh welcomed a new academic vice president, Patricia Killen, and appointed a new executive vice president, Earl Martin, to oversee many of Gonzaga’s internal operations. Through these and many other changes, Gonzaga’s Jesuit foundation has remained of paramount importance to the new president.

“My life would not be the same without Gonzaga – it’s where my wife Julie and I met, and where many of my values have been shaped. The Jesuits and my colleagues at Gonzaga have allowed me to participate fully in the advancement of this institution,” McCulloh said. “I am excited about the prospect of giving back to this institution and its constituents through a vision focused on preserving our mission, unique student life experience and academic excellence while exploring new frontiers for preparing students to tackle today’s complex global issues.”

McCulloh’s vision for the immediate future remains focused on increased institutional stability and support for educational excellence. “Our primary mission is to educate students. I plan to continue efforts to optimize operational costs while focusing additional resources on educational programs, student life, and a healthy financial aid program. Part of this effort will include building Gonzaga’s endowment to make the University more accessible to students who are motivated to seek a Gonzaga education. Finally, as Gonzaga prepares for its 125thAnniversary in 2012, I plan to seek greater collaboration with the Spokane community to further the prosperity of the City and region through the service, diversity, ingenuity and economic resources of this University and its students.”

McCulloh served two years as interim academic vice president (2007-2009) before becoming interim president on July 16, 2009. Prior to that, McCulloh was vice president for administration and planning, associate academic vice president, dean of financial services, dean of student academic services, assistant dean of students, and held several other student life positions. McCulloh oversaw the first new residence hall construction on campus since the mid-1960s, and played a key role in the implementation of the University’s integrated computing information system. He has been integrally involved in shaping Gonzaga’s current strategic plan, developing its enrollment strategy, and in 2004 chaired the institution’s successful institutional accreditation process. McCulloh has taught as a member of Gonzaga’s psychology department faculty and facilitated numerous student research projects. Also, he has served the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities as a team member and chair, engaged in evaluating the effectiveness of peer institutions in the Pacific Northwest.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Gonzaga in 1989, and was admitted into the Master of Science program in experimental psychology at Oxford University in England that same year. McCulloh was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree in experimental social psychology from Oxford in 1998.

McCulloh and wife Julie have three daughters: Kathryne, Anne and Emily.

Information courtesy of Gonzaga University