Loyola Marymount College, one of many largest faculties in Los Angeles primarily based on enrollment, has named a brand new president.
Thomas Poon will take over the helm because the Westchester-based establishment’s 17th president on June 1. The varsity’s present president, Timothy Legislation Snyder, is retiring.
“President-elect Poon is an ideal choice to steer LMU into its future with boldness and readability. His imaginative and prescient is expansive, his management grounded in mission, and his dedication to inclusive excellence unwavering,” Snyder stated in a press release. “Beneath his steering, LMU will set new requirements for a way a values-based, progressive, and globally engaged Catholic college can thrive.”
Poon, who has been with the college for eight years, known as being named its president an “honor and a privilege.” He labored carefully with Snyder as his government vice chairman and provost, working collectively “to advance his imaginative and prescient.”
He stated Snyder left behind a formidable legacy which included “rising our visibility past our campuses.”
“He has elevated athletics and partnerships with so many native and nationwide organizations. He’s constructed infrastructure via a number of new campus buildings, too,” Poon stated.
The varsity presently has roughly 10,000 enrollees, which Poon stated was the “good dimension…we aren’t too huge and we’re not too small.”
“College students can get the person consideration that small faculties present,” but additionally have a lot of alternatives, he added.
Wanting forward, Poon stated he wished to “foster innovation in educating, develop interdisciplinary studying and create a pupil middle that prepares our graduates for the world.”
Long run, Poon can also be seeking to associate with extra organizations within the metropolis.
“L.A. has some unbelievable industries, (together with) leisure, sports activities, the authorized career, enterprise and LMU has a lot experience in these areas,” he stated.
One of many greatest partnerships to date is with the Los Angeles Rams soccer staff.
The partnership has included internships for LMU college students with the Rams and larger engagement between the 2 teams. It additionally included internet hosting the Rams’ summer time coaching camp at LMU’s campus, in addition to 3,000 highschool college students for a Women’ Flag Soccer Jamboree.
“Our partnerships with the native enterprise neighborhood are actually ripe to offer a useful resource for them, a pipeline of fantastic staff and that’s one thing we need to make the most of,” Poon stated.
He added that “all eyes are going to be on L.A.” forward of occasions just like the Olympic Video games and wildfire rebuilding and that “LMU has a giant function to play.”
Earlier than being named president, Poon served as LMU’s government vice chairman and provost. In these roles he led 21 packages in areas comparable to enterprise analytics, schooling management and pc science. He’s additionally credited with securing LMU’s first nationwide analysis classification.
“President-elect Thomas Poon places college students, college and employees on the middle of his selections. With reverence for LMU’s values and the braveness to fulfill the calls for of a altering world, he’ll information our college to new heights in tutorial distinction, visibility, and world engagement,” Paul Viviano, LMU Trustee Board chair, stated in a press release. “After a sturdy search, this resolution confirmed what many already knew: Tom is a mission-driven chief of character, readability and consequence.”
Poon can also be a professor of chemistry.
Previous to LMU, he held tutorial and government roles at Pitzer Faculty, together with the rank of interim president.
“I welcome Dr. Thomas Poon as the subsequent president of Loyola Marymount College. Dr. Poon is a distinguished scholar and tutorial chief, and I sit up for working with him,” José H. Gomez, archbishop of Los Angeles, stated in a press release.
