Carroll University will be led by a woman for the first time after all as the Waukesha school named Cindy Gnadinger as its next president.
Gnadinger was most recently executive consultant at Bellamine University in Louisville, Kentucky.
“Carroll is impressive in every respect. In addition to its outstanding academic reputation, I was drawn to the university’s strong foundation in the liberal arts, its expanding role as a leader in the health sciences and its commitment to a culture of service in a diverse and global society,” Gnadinger said.
Jim DeJong, chair of the presidential search committee and immediate past chair of Carroll’s board of trustees, said Gnadinger brought impressive credentials and “is a dynamic leader with a strong commitment to higher education.”
“Her demonstrated ability to engage the entire Carroll community will be very important in shaping a strategic vision for the university’s future. Under Dr. Gnadinger’s leadership, we will continue to support the many achievements of the past decade while creating new opportunities that continue to move Carroll forward,” DeJong said.
Gnadinger is the second person Carroll has named to replace Doug Hastad, who will be retiring this summer. The university previously named Sara Ray Stoelinga, director of the University of Chicago’s Urban Education Institute, to the position, but Stoelinga later withdrew her acceptance of the position, citing a desire to continue her work on K-12 education.
Gnadinger has 23 years of experience in higher education, including 15 years in administration. She held faculty, department head, dean and assistant vice president for academic affairs roles at Bellarmine between 2000 and 2013. She was vice president for academic affairs at William Peace University in Raleigh, North Carolina from 2013 to 2014. From 2014 to 2015 she was provost at St. Catharine College in Kentucky and then served as the college’s president the following year.
She earned her bachelor’s degree from Western Kentucky University and master’s degree from the University of Louisville. She has a doctor of education in education supervision from the University of Louisville.
