{"id":291890,"date":"2026-05-13T22:12:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T22:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/291890\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T22:12:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T22:12:07","slug":"st-edwards-university-appoints-interim-president-from-outside-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/291890\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Edward\u2019s University appoints interim president from outside Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Fuentes has led the Catholic university in South Austin since 2021. Shank will take over July 1 and start transitioning into the position in June, the university announced Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Shank will serve an interim term of up to two years at the Catholic university. The St. Edward\u2019s board of trustees selected Shank with the help of the national higher education leadership firm AGB Search and\u00a0after consultation with faculty, students, staff and alumni, officials said in a news release.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The university described Shank as a collaborative leader with intensive higher education experience.<\/p>\n<p>A marketing scholar and long-time academic, Shank served as the sixth president of Marymount University from July 2011 to June 2018. There, he increased enrollment, improved diversity of the student body, expanded educational offerings and completed a $40 million fundraising campaign, reporting shows.<\/p>\n<p>He most recently led the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges, which advocates for private higher education institutions in Virginia.<\/p>\n<p>Before Marymount, Shank was dean at the University of Dayton\u2019s School of Business Administration and previously chaired Northern Kentucky University\u2019s Department of Management and Marketing.\u00a0He graduated with a doctorate\u00a0in experimental psychology in 1988 from University of Missouri-St. Louis, where he also earned his master&#8217;s degree in psychology. He graduated from the University of Wyoming in 1983 with a bachelor&#8217;s degree in psychology.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He has won recognition\u00a0for his leadership, including the 2017 Global Educator of the Year Award from the World Affairs Council. The World Affairs Council is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit focused on global education.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDr. Shank brings a steady, mission-centered approach to institutional stewardship,\u201d Linus\u00a0Akanoh Jr., chair of the St. Edward\u2019s University board of trustees, said in a news release. \u201cAt a time when universities across the country are navigating profound change, the board is confident that he will provide the clarity, stability and forward momentum our institution needs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Trustees will launch a search for a permanent president in the spring of 2027.\u00a0Fuentes will leave her post\u00a0on June 30.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to thank the Board of Trustees and the entire university community for providing me with this opportunity to serve,\u201d Shank said in a statement. \u201cMy focus as interim president will be to listen carefully, communicate transparently, and help position St. Edward\u2019s for long-term strength and momentum.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fuentes has led the Catholic university in South Austin since 2021. Shank will take over July 1 and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291891,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-291890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}