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MCNICHOLS • RIVERFRONT • CORKTOWN • NOVI

Donald B. Taylor, Ph.D. Donald B. Taylor to be next Detroit Mercy president

University of Detroit Mercy’s Board of Trustees announced in February that Donald B. Taylor, Ph.D., will be the institution’s 26th president.

He succeeds Antoine M. Garibaldi, who concludes his presidency on June 30.

“On behalf of the entire Detroit Mercy community, we are pleased to welcome Dr. Taylor to our University and look forward to his leadership as we build on the momentum of the past decade and set new goals for the institution,” said Michael T. McNamara, chairman of the University Board of Trustees and president of Hollingsworth LLC. “Dr. Taylor’s accomplishments and extraordinary experience demonstrate a commitment to excellence that fits well with Detroit Mercy’s vision and mission, and we are confident that he will help the University achieve an even brighter future.”

Taylor brings nearly three decades of higher education leadership in the areas of program development, accreditation, alumni relations, community partnership development, corporate and philanthropic fundraising success and commitment to adult/post-traditional students, international/global and online education, following decades as a researcher and educator at Catholic institutions.

“It is a great honor and I am humbled to be selected to serve as the next president of one of the great Catholic universities in our nation at this time in its institutional history, building from the tremendous success and momentum of President Garibaldi’s long tenure at Detroit Mercy,” Taylor said. “In partnership with an engaged Board of Trustees, the Jesuits, Sisters of Mercy, faculty, staff, students, alumni and the greater Detroit metropolitan community, we look forward to leading Detroit Mercy to become the best comprehensive Catholic University in the Midwest,” he added.

Since 2014, he has served as president of Cabrini University, a private Roman Catholic University near Philadelphia, that provides undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate degree programs to more than 2,000 students. During Taylor’s tenure as president, Cabrini ranked among the top 40 Most Transformative Colleges in the nation by Money Magazine based on the institution’s “value add,” an indicator to showcase schools whose alumni report high levels of success. In 2019, the University was also ranked as one of the Best Northern Universities by U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Colleges Edition.”

Taylor’s many accomplishments as president include:

• Transitioning Cabrini from a college to a university in 2016.

• Creation of four distinct schools in the University, each headed by a dean: School of Education; School of Business, Arts, and Media; School of Humanities and Social Sciences; and School of Natural Sciences and

Allied Health.

• Creation of four academic centers of excellence: Center on Immigration; Center on Urban Education,

Equity and Improvement; Center on Domestic Violence & Early

Childhood Education; and the

Center on Global Business.

• Securing donor funding for the

Center for Immigration and

Center for Domestic Violence and

Early Childhood Trauma.

• Securing a partnership for Cabrini to become the Commonwealth of

Pennsylvania’s first college partner with TheDream.US, an initiative that provides scholarship support for DACA students.

• Created educational pathways for students to attend Cabrini by establishing nearly two dozen partnerships with K–12 schools (dual credit), institutions of higher education (4+1 degrees), and educational nonprofits across the region, the nation and the world.

Taylor’s first day as president will be July 1.