LEAVENWORTH — Following a nationwide search, the University of Saint Mary announced the appointment of Dr. Ann Marie Fallon as the institution’s 10th president March 30. Fallon comes to USM with over 15 years of higher education leadership experience — the last 11 of which were at Catholic institutions.
Fallon’s tenure at the helm of Saint Mary will officially begin in July. She will succeed Sister Diane Steele, Ph.D., who has led USM for 25 years and last summer announced her intentions to step down at the close of the current academic year.
Currently serving as dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at St. John Fisher University in Rochester, New York — an independent liberal arts institution in the Catholic tradition of American higher education of over 3,500 students — Fallon takes the helm of USM with the goal of continuing the institution’s growth trajectory. Over the past two decades, USM’s enrollment has roughly doubled, the university has expanded its focus on health care education programs and its doctoral offerings, and the historic Saint Mary campus has seen notable building additions.
Fallon has held the role of dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Fisher since 2017. Her previous positions include two years as provost at Marylhurst University in Oregon and director of the University Honors College at Portland State University. During her time at Fisher, she co-chaired a committee that re-worked the institution’s core curriculum, launched a new honors program, emphasized student research, and oversaw the creation of several new graduate and undergraduate programs.
Other highlights of her academic career include roles as a professor of humanities and international studies, Sustainability in the Humanities Scholar, and Fulbright Junior Lecturer in American Studies at the University of Trier, Germany. She has authored three books and 15 articles and chapters on topics ranging from comparative literature to the public humanities.
Plans for Fallon’s formal installation will be announced later this spring.
