.- The
assistant to the U.S. president and director of the country’s Office of
Faith-Based and Community Initiatives was named president of the
America's First Benedictine College earlier this week.
H. James Towey
has been named the 16th president of the Saint Vincent College,
effective July 1. The 160-year-old liberal arts and sciences college is
sponsored by the Benedictine monks of Saint Vincent Archabbey.
"The liberal
arts education that is offered here is desperately needed in a culture
often lacking direction and values and intellectual curiosity," Towey
said in a press release.
"The common
ground upon which we [staff and administration] stand is our shared
desire to make sure those enrolled here have the opportunity to grow
academically, spiritually, morally and socially so that their lives can
be a gift for others," he said.
Saint Vincent’s
College has 1,600, students from 25 U.S. states and 13 foreign
countries. More than 12,000 alumni reside in all 50 states and 29
foreign countries or territories.
Christopher
Donahue, chairman of the board of directors, said the college
considered applications from 70 candidates across the country.
Towey has been
assistant to the U.S. president since February 2002 and director of the
Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. He served as a member
of the President's Senior Staff and reported directly to the president
on matters pertaining to church-state and religious liberty issues,
federal grants to religious and community-based charities and corporate
and foundation grant-making to social service agencies.
In 1996, he
founded Aging with Dignity, a national non-profit organization to help
individuals and their families plan for and receive care during times
of serious illness.
As Secretary of
the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, Towey
served as a member of the Governor's Cabinet and administered the
largest state health and social services agency in the country.
Towey
represented the late Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity on
legal matters in the United States and Canada for 12 years, from 1985
until her death. He served nearly two years as a fulltime volunteer
with the Missionaries of Charity.
He has been
honored many times for his public service including six honorary
doctoral degrees and the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Papal Cross from His
Holiness John Paul II. He was also recognized by Church World magazine
for being one of Fifty Most Influential Christians in America.
Towey, 49, is a native of Jacksonville, Florida. He and his wife, Mary, have five children.
Former White House aide to become president of Saint Vincent College
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