First Lay President of Q.U. Named

The Board of Trustees of Quincy University has appointed Dr. Robert Gervasi as the first lay president of the liberal arts institution in its 147 year history.

As a son of Quincy University, I am pleased to welcome Dr. Gervasi to the Q.U. family and I hope to meet him when he officialy takes the helm.

By all accounts, Dr. Gervasi has a deep admiration for Saint Francis of Assisi. I hope he will be able to rejuvenate the Catholic aspect of both the academic and student life of the University.

I'm not so much concerned at Gervasi's appointment as I am at some of the comments made by one of the members of the Board, who also happened to chair the search committee for a new president.

Brian Belobradic, commenting on Gervasi's appointment, said:

What really resonated was his charisma. He can really grab people's attentions in a room. He's very energetic, and he speaks six languages, but what jumped out with his was, well, his 'Franciscan-ism.' I don't know if that's a word, but boy, he's the real deal.

First, this doesn't come across as too professional but as rather flippant. Second, how can you be a member of the Board of Trustees of a Franciscan liberal arts college and not know if "Franciscanism" is a word? Of course it is! Maybe it's time to develop a basic knowledge quiz for potential Board members.

For more information:

Quincy University press release and more
The Quincy Herald-Whig and again
WGEM TV (with a video)
KHQA TV