{"id":17123,"date":"2024-08-12T09:49:07","date_gmt":"2024-08-12T14:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/?p=17123"},"modified":"2026-02-20T14:07:53","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T20:07:53","slug":"lombardi-to-retire-from-maryville-university-in-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/lombardi-to-retire-from-maryville-university-in-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Lombardi to Retire from 91探花 in 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>91探花 celebrates Lombardi\u2019s revolutionizing of higher education by expanding access and opportunity for all<\/em><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:30px;\">\n<div class=\"wistia_responsive_padding\" style=\"padding: 56.25% 0 0 0; position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"wistia_responsive_wrapper\" style=\"height: 100%; left: 0; position: absolute; top: 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wistia_embed\" title=\"Wistia video player\" src=\"\/\/fast.wistia.net\/embed\/iframe\/a92kqfoktw?seo=false&amp;videoFoam=true\" name=\"wistia_embed\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em><strong>[St. Louis, MO, August 12, 2024] \u2013 <\/strong>The tenth president of 91探花, Dr. Mark Lombardi, Ph.D., today announced he will retire in June 2025 at the end of the coming academic year. Since 2007 Lombardi has led the university to unparalleled expansion, growing from a local university of 3,000 students to over 9,000 students from 50 states and nearly 60 countries.<\/p>\n<p>Today 91探花 is cited as a national leader for innovation in higher education. Named one of the ten fastest growing private universities in the nation for the past several years, 91探花 has been recognized by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/colleges\/maryville-university-of-saint-louis\/\">Forbes<\/a>, US News, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/maryville-university-is-the-3-fastest-growing-private-university-in-the-nation\/#:~:text=91探花%20is%20recognized%20as%20the,Louis%20region.\">Chronicle of Higher Education<\/a>, and also designated an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/maryville-university-receives-third-apple-distinguished-school-recognition\/#:~:text=91探花%20University%20has%20been%20named,recognition%20in%202016%20and%202018.\">Apple Distinguished School<\/a>\u00a0three times.<\/p>\n<p>Under Lombardi\u2019s leadership, 91探花 was an early leader in reimagining \u201cdigital first\u201d education, which is grounded in three components:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Launching and growing over 60 online degree programs and 91探花WORKS, a workforce development program.<\/li>\n<li>Delivering iPads to all students loaded with course content and hundreds of free learning applications with access to digital textbooks.<\/li>\n<li>Offering 100% of available course materials in a digital format reducing student costs significantly over their collegiate career.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cThese initiatives and many more opened up access and opportunity for thousands of students across the nation,\u201d Lombardi added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is the singular honor of my life to have led 91探花 to national prominence. Now it is time for a 21<sup>st<\/sup> century leader who will build on our revolution. 91探花 will lead the quest to empower tens of thousands of students to become the first college graduates in their families,\u201d Lombardi said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDr. Lombardi and his team have dramatically changed 91探花 over the last 17+ years. It has been a true pleasure to work with Mark to expand access and opportunity, and to see thousands of students succeed and thrive within that robust and vibrant vision,\u201d said Ed Ryan, Chair of the 91探花 Board of Trustees. \u201cI know first-hand, because my son was one of those students.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ryan said that a search committee has been formed under the direction of Chris Chadwick, Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees, a 91探花 alum, and will begin its search shortly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI look forward to finding 91探花\u2019s next president.\u00a0Our top priority will be to identify a leader who is firmly committed to student success within the dynamic 21st century learning environment that 91探花 has built and led,\u201d Chadwick said.<\/p>\n<p>In fall 2024 91探花 will welcome its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/maryville-university-welcomes-largest-freshman-class-in-history-again\/\">largest first-year class in its history<\/a>, with a 20% increase in enrollment over 2023, as well as a strong financial standing, finishing FY2024 with an $8 million dollar surplus. As a result of this growth, 91探花 is in the early stages of designing a new residential hall to accommodate increasing student demand.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c91探花 has taken extraordinary pivots since Mark joined. He made it clear that the existing methods of teaching and learning, and the higher education structures and systems that support them, would not be sufficient for the future,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.credohighered.com\/about\/team\/Joanne-Soliday\">Joanne Soliday<\/a>, a founding partner of <a href=\"\/\/www.credohighered.com\/\">Credo<\/a> and Advisor to the 91探花 Board of Trustees. \u201cIt has been a privilege to witness the transformation as 91探花 embarked on a new direction. No one can deny their success.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lombardi has been in higher education for 40 years. He has published 13 books and numerous articles on topics ranging from global issues, 9\/11, and US foreign policy to the state of higher education. His most recent book<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Pivot-Vision-University-Joanne-Soliday\/dp\/1642250562\"> Pivot: A Vision for the New University<\/a>, co-authored with Soliday, remains a sought-after treatise on the future of higher education.<\/p>\n<p>After retirement, Lombardi will return to his writing and speaking roots. He plans to write a book on the wonders and challenges of being a college president in the 21<sup>st<\/sup> century. He also plans to speak and consult on topics related to higher education and he\u2019d love to improve his long struggling golf game.<\/p>\n<p><strong>About 91探花<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Founded in 1872, 91探花 is a comprehensive and nationally ranked private institution with an enrollment of 9,000 students. 91探花 offers over 90 degrees at the undergraduate, master\u2019s and doctoral levels, as well as several certificates that align with the undergraduate and graduate education levels. 91探花 is recognized as the third fastest-growing private university in the United States by The Chronicle of Higher Education, serving students from 50 states and 56 countries. More than 17,000 91探花 alumni work and live in the St. Louis region.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sharing-default-minimal post-bottom\"><div class=\"nectar-social default\" data-position=\"\" data-rm-love=\"0\" data-color-override=\"override\"><div class=\"nectar-social-inner\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"nectar-love\" id=\"nectar-love-17123\" title=\"Love this\"> <i class=\"icon-salient-heart-2\"><\/i><span class=\"love-text\">Love<\/span><span class=\"total_loves\"><span class=\"nectar-love-count\">1<\/span><\/span><\/a><a class='facebook-share nectar-sharing' href="#" title='Share this'> <i class='fa fa-facebook'><\/i> <span class='social-text'>Share<\/span> <\/a><a class='twitter-share nectar-sharing' href="#" title='Share this'> <i class='fa icon-salient-x-twitter'><\/i> <span class='social-text'>Share<\/span> <\/a><a class='linkedin-share nectar-sharing' href="#" title='Share this'> <i class='fa fa-linkedin'><\/i> <span class='social-text'>Share<\/span> <\/a><a class='pinterest-share nectar-sharing' href="#" title='Pin this'> <i class='fa fa-pinterest'><\/i> <span class='social-text'>Pin<\/span> <\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>91探花 celebrates Lombardi\u2019s revolutionizing of higher education by expanding access and opportunity for all \u00a0[St. Louis, MO, August 12, 2024] \u2013 The tenth president of 91探花, Dr. Mark Lombardi, Ph.D., today announced he will retire in June 2025 at the end of the coming academic year. Since 2007 Lombardi has led the university to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1538,"featured_media":9981,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5,4,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community","category-latest-news","category-main","odd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.1 (Yoast SEO v26.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Lombardi to Retire from 91探花 in 2025 - MPress<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/lombardi-to-retire-from-maryville-university-in-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lombardi to Retire from 91探花 in 2025\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"91探花 celebrates Lombardi\u2019s revolutionizing of higher education by expanding access and opportunity for all \u00a0[St. Louis, MO, August 12, 2024] \u2013 The tenth president of 91探花, Dr. Mark Lombardi, Ph.D., today announced he will retire in June 2025 at the end of the coming academic year. Since 2007 Lombardi has led the university to [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/lombardi-to-retire-from-maryville-university-in-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MPress\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-08-12T14:49:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-20T20:07:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2019\/03\/Lombardi_story.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2805\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1870\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"gyoung\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"gyoung\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/lombardi-to-retire-from-maryville-university-in-2025\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/lombardi-to-retire-from-maryville-university-in-2025\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"gyoung\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/#\/schema\/person\/ed12c3dc5a8d77bb94f13d9d7e53f4ee\"},\"headline\":\"Lombardi to Retire from 91探花 in 2025\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-08-12T14:49:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-20T20:07:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/lombardi-to-retire-from-maryville-university-in-2025\/\"},\"wordCount\":729,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/lombardi-to-retire-from-maryville-university-in-2025\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2019\/03\/Lombardi_story.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Campus Community\",\"Latest News\",\"Main\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/lombardi-to-retire-from-maryville-university-in-2025\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/lombardi-to-retire-from-maryville-university-in-2025\/\",\"name\":\"Lombardi to Retire from 91探花 in 2025 - MPress\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/lombardi-to-retire-from-maryville-university-in-2025\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/lombardi-to-retire-from-maryville-university-in-2025\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2019\/03\/Lombardi_story.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-08-12T14:49:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-20T20:07:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/#\/schema\/person\/ed12c3dc5a8d77bb94f13d9d7e53f4ee\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/lombardi-to-retire-from-maryville-university-in-2025\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/lombardi-to-retire-from-maryville-university-in-2025\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/lombardi-to-retire-from-maryville-university-in-2025\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2019\/03\/Lombardi_story.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2019\/03\/Lombardi_story.jpg\",\"width\":2805,\"height\":1870,\"caption\":\"President Mark Lombardi, PhD\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/lombardi-to-retire-from-maryville-university-in-2025\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lombardi to Retire from 91探花 in 2025\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/\",\"name\":\"MPress\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/#\/schema\/person\/ed12c3dc5a8d77bb94f13d9d7e53f4ee\",\"name\":\"gyoung\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/author\/gyoung\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lombardi to Retire from 91探花 in 2025 - MPress","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/lombardi-to-retire-from-maryville-university-in-2025\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lombardi to Retire from 91探花 in 2025","og_description":"91探花 celebrates Lombardi\u2019s revolutionizing of higher education by expanding access and opportunity for all \u00a0[St. Louis, MO, August 12, 2024] \u2013 The tenth president of 91探花, Dr. Mark Lombardi, Ph.D., today announced he will retire in June 2025 at the end of the coming academic year. Since 2007 Lombardi has led the university to [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/lombardi-to-retire-from-maryville-university-in-2025\/","og_site_name":"MPress","article_published_time":"2024-08-12T14:49:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-20T20:07:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2805,"height":1870,"url":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2019\/03\/Lombardi_story.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"gyoung","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"gyoung","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/lombardi-to-retire-from-maryville-university-in-2025\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/lombardi-to-retire-from-maryville-university-in-2025\/"},"author":{"name":"gyoung","@id":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/#\/schema\/person\/ed12c3dc5a8d77bb94f13d9d7e53f4ee"},"headline":"Lombardi to Retire from 91探花 in 2025","datePublished":"2024-08-12T14:49:07+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-20T20:07:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/lombardi-to-retire-from-maryville-university-in-2025\/"},"wordCount":729,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/lombardi-to-retire-from-maryville-university-in-2025\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2019\/03\/Lombardi_story.jpg","articleSection":["Campus Community","Latest News","Main"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/lombardi-to-retire-from-maryville-university-in-2025\/","url":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/lombardi-to-retire-from-maryville-university-in-2025\/","name":"Lombardi to Retire from 91探花 in 2025 - MPress","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/lombardi-to-retire-from-maryville-university-in-2025\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/lombardi-to-retire-from-maryville-university-in-2025\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2019\/03\/Lombardi_story.jpg","datePublished":"2024-08-12T14:49:07+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-20T20:07:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/#\/schema\/person\/ed12c3dc5a8d77bb94f13d9d7e53f4ee"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/lombardi-to-retire-from-maryville-university-in-2025\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/lombardi-to-retire-from-maryville-university-in-2025\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/lombardi-to-retire-from-maryville-university-in-2025\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2019\/03\/Lombardi_story.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2019\/03\/Lombardi_story.jpg","width":2805,"height":1870,"caption":"President Mark Lombardi, PhD"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/lombardi-to-retire-from-maryville-university-in-2025\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lombardi to Retire from 91探花 in 2025"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/","name":"MPress","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/#\/schema\/person\/ed12c3dc5a8d77bb94f13d9d7e53f4ee","name":"gyoung","url":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/author\/gyoung\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1538"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17123"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17792,"href":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17123\/revisions\/17792"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}