The Board of Trustees of St. Mary’s College of Maryland named Dr. Ian Newbould as interim president for the 2013-14 academic year.
Newbould, who took office August 1, most recently served as interim provost at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, VA. In a career spanning more than three decades in higher education, Newbould has served as president of Richmond, the American International University in London; North Carolina Wesleyan College, Rocky Mount, North Carolina; and Mount Allison University, New Brunswick, Canada. He will succeed Dr. Joseph Urgo, who served as president from 2010 to 2013.
“We are extremely pleased to have a distinguished academic leader and scholar on board to provide leadership during such an important period in our College’s history,” commented Gail Harmon, Board of Trustees chair and partner in the Washington, D.C. law firm Harmon, Curran, Spielberg & Eisenberg, LLP. “Dr. Newbould has a clear appreciation of and commitment to St. Mary’s special mission as a public liberal arts college; he is proud to serve the designated honors college of the State of Maryland.”
“I am honored to have been selected as interim president of St. Mary’s College and look forward to joining this extraordinary institution,” commented Newbould. A graduate of the University of Western Ontario, Newbould received his M.A. from the University of Guelph in Canada and Ph.D. in History from the University of Manchester in England. He has won numerous honors and awards, including a visiting fellowship at Wolfson College Oxford.
During the period between Urgo’s departure at the end of June and Newbould’s arrival in August, Charles “Chip” Jackson, vice president for business and finance, served as acting president. Jackson, who has been on the St. Mary’s staff for 27 years, has played a leadership role in such campus initiatives such as master planning, sustainability, and student housing expansion.
St. Mary’s College is one of only two public honors colleges in the nation. Dedicated to providing an affordable liberal arts education for a diverse student body, the college has the highest graduation rate of any public college or university in the state. Within five years of graduation, 70% of its alumni pursue a graduate and/or professional degree. The Chronicle of Higher Education named St. Mary’s a top producer of Fulbright Scholars for 2011-2012. U.S. News & World Report 2012 ranked St. Mary’s College of Maryland in the top five public liberal arts colleges in the nation.