SE TON HALL MAGA ZINE | WINTER 2023
Provost Passerini Serves as Interim President
K
atia Passerini, Ph.D., who came to Seton Hall in 2020 as provost and executive vice president, is now serving as interim president of the University.
Hank D’Alessandro ’85, chair of the Board of Regents,
noted that Passerini arrived on campus during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and played a key role in instituting the flexible online and in-person teaching option that enabled the University to achieve a safe academic year in 2020-21. He also noted that she was actively involved in the development of the “Harvest Our Treasures” strategic plan, and as interim president will oversee its final year. Passerini was elected to the administrative board for the International Federation of Catholic Universities last year, representing all North American institutions. A national search for a new president is underway.
New Rector and Dean for Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology Reverend Monsignor Gerard Hargrove McCarren, S.T.D., was installed this fall as the 23rd rector of Immaculate Conception Seminary at Seton Hall. His appointment as rector and dean of the seminary’s School of Theology had been announced in March, following a national search, and he had been serving in the posts on an interim basis since July 2022.
The appointment was formalized on September 10 in a Mass of Installation led by Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, Archbishop of Newark, who noted that the ceremony marked Monsignor McCarren’s official start as “father of the seminary community.” In his homily, Monsignor McCarren noted that in the priestly vocation, “We are enjoined to be ministers of reconciliation, and this can take place only in love, and it leads to deeper love. … We are strengthened for the task before us because we do this in prayer, and we do this together.” Katia Passerini, Ph.D., interim president of Seton Hall, noted that “His tenure as interim rector and dean brought a renewed sense of vitality and even greater enthusiasm to the seminary. I welcome his full-time appointment with confidence that his great faith, administrative expertise and outstanding scholarship will continue to enrich the seminary and its students.”
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