Dr. Scott Morrison Named Interim President at St. Mary's University
'We are deeply grateful for Dr. Vanderpool's leadership and collaborative community building over the past three years. Together with faculty, staff, students, and supporters, she has led our university to accomplish national awards, academic program expansions, and record-breaking investments from supporters.' said Gary Strother, Chair of St. Mary's University Board of Governors. 'On behalf of St. Mary's, and the communities we serve, I wish Sinda and her family all the best.'
The University's board has begun acting on its authority to search for a new president. One of Alberta's leading education executives, Dr. Scott Morrison, has agreed to serve as Interim President and Vice-Chancellor from August 5, 2025 until that search is complete.
Through his extensive career in education, Dr. Morrison has held a variety of influential leadership roles in Alberta, including as Executive Director of the Catholic School Superintendents of Alberta, which granted him a leave from his current position to support St. Mary's University during its transition.
'Scott is not only an expert in leading educational organizations, but he is also a committed member of St. Mary's community,' said Strother.
For the past 17 years, Dr. Morrison contributed as a sessional instructor, teaching an undergraduate course in the Faculty of Education and leadership certification courses. He also helped shape the university's Bachelor of Education program for secondary students and its soon-to-be launched Master of Education program. A former member of St. Mary's Board of Governors, he chaired its Governance and Nominating Committee for three years.
Morrison was honoured to accept the role. 'To serve St. Mary's as its Interim President will be a labour of love. I have long been an advocate for St. Mary's and the transformative power of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition it blends through their degrees in education, arts and science.'
Vanderpool has mixed feelings as she transitions the role with Morrison August 5 – 8, her last week here. 'I have felt so very honoured to serve St. Mary's and the community that uplifts it. While I am excited to live closer to my family, I know the future is bright for a place that will always hold a special home in my heart.'
Lisa Laskowski, Vice President, External Relations
St. Mary's University
Phone: 403.554.6225
Email:
lisa.laskowski@stmu.ca
About St. Mary's University
St. Mary's University is a dynamic and inclusive institution located in Calgary, Alberta, offering undergraduate degrees in Education, Arts, and Science, along with diploma programs in Business that emphasize entrepreneurship, innovation, and social responsibility. For students aspiring to careers in health care, mental health, or medicine, St. Mary's provides essential foundational courses to support their academic journey.
Situated on a picturesque 35-acre campus adjacent to Fish Creek Provincial Park, St. Mary's blends natural beauty with academic tradition. The campus is home to nationally ranked athletics teams, a vibrant community choir, and heritage buildings that reflect the university's rich history and enduring values.
Guided by the Catholic intellectual tradition and open to all, St. Mary's fosters a culture of academic excellence, ethical leadership, and a deep respect for the dignity of every person. Graduates emerge as thoughtful, compassionate leaders— committed to service, inspired by faith, and prepared to shape a better world.
https://stmu.ca/about-us/strategic-plan/
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/67e66fb0-6325-41cc-bc7a-61b0c163f70d
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
Bolivia election could see lurch to right as once-dominant party's time runs out
In Plaza Murillo, the heart of Bolivia's political capital, La Paz – and home to the presidential palace, parliament and the country's main Catholic cathedral – time may be running out for a clock that runs backwards. Installed atop of the congressional palace during the years of prosperity under former president Evo Morales, 65, the anti-clockwise timepiece was conceived as a symbol of the 'decolonial and anti-imperialist' worldview championed by the left. But it has since become an emblem of the decline of Morales's Movimiento al Socialismo (Mas) party – with some saying that, as the country faces its worst economic crisis in 40 years, Bolivia itself has been moving backwards. And when 7.9 million Bolivians head to the polls this Sunday to choose their next president, Mas not only risks losing power after nearly 20 years – but it could disappear as a political force altogether. Polls point to a potential runoff between two rightwing candidates: the centre-right business tycoon and former planning minister Samuel Doria Medina, 66, followed closely by Jorge 'Tuto' Quiroga, 65, a rightwing former president who briefly led the country in 2001 after the resignation of the former dictator Hugo Banzer. The deeply unpopular current president, Luis Arce – a former finance minister under Morales who wrested control of Mas from his former mentor – opted not to seek re-election and instead nominated his 36-year-old minister of government, Eduardo del Castillo. Unlike previous elections in which Morales and then Arce secured outright first-round victories with over 50% of the vote, Del Castillo is now polling below 3%, the minimum threshold for a party to remain eligible to contest future elections. Related: Plotting a comeback, Bolivia's ex-leader defies arrest warrant in jungle hideout 'Arce will go down in history as the one who buried the 'father', seized the party and, in all likelihood, led it to its end,' said the political and economic analyst Gonzalo Chávez Alvarez, a professor at the Universidad Católica Boliviana. Although polling in Bolivia has historically proved unreliable, the prospect of a party that was once hegemonic now teetering on the brink of oblivion is anything but trivial. 'I can bet we won't lose our legal status,' Arce told the Guardian late on Thursday, arguing that polls failed to predict his first-round victory in 2020. Even so, the president showed little confidence in any surprise from the left and said he would respect the result if the right won. 'If they are democratically elected, why not accept it?' he said. 'And we will mobilise to resist, to be the opposition, of course.' 'I had high hopes for this government but now I only feel disappointment,' said Pablo Quispe, 55, who has sold hats for the past 25 years in a street market in El Alto – a booming high-altitude city near La Paz that was once a Mas stronghold. After years of prosperity driven by a natural gas boom, reserves dwindled during the final years of Morales's presidency, triggering an economic crisis that has deepened ever since. 'The gas that should have sustained the country for much longer – and then generated resources to be invested in other sectors, diversifying the economy – wasn't used that way,' said Alvarez. Under Arce, the economy has deteriorated further: by July 2025, annual inflation had reached 24.8%, the highest level since at least 2008. Just as Bolivia celebrates 200 years of independence, there are shortages of fuel and US dollars, leading to scarcities and long queues even for bread. Related: Deadly clashes over Morales candidacy deepen Bolivia crisis in election run-up 'Everything is more expensive, and we're barely getting by,' said Quispe, who previously voted for Mas but now plans to vote for Medina because 'the left just isn't working any more'. Leticia Guarachi Padilla, a 35-year-old leftist entrepreneur who runs a small business installing blinds and curtains, plans to spoil her ballot in protest over Morales's exclusion from the race. The first Indigenous president in Bolivia's history and the country's longest-serving leader, from 2006 to 2019, Morales was barred by the constitutional court, which ruled that he has already exceeded the two-term limit, and the electoral court, which has argued that his party is not formally registered. Since October, he has remained entrenched in central Bolivia, where hundreds of coca farmers have prevented police from executing an arrest warrant issued against him over allegations that he fathered a child with a 15-year-old while in office. In recent weeks, Morales has urged supporters to cast blank votes – claiming that if the number of spoiled ballots exceeds the share won by the top candidate, it would mean he had won. The highest-polling leftwing name is that of Andrónico Rodríguez, a 36-year-old senator, polling third to fifth. Once seen as Morales's natural heir due to his Indigenous roots and leadership in the coca growers' union, Rodríguez was labelled a traitor by his former mentor after deciding to launch his own candidacy and has seemed unable to rally support from the fragmented left. 'I voted for Evo every time he ran, and I don't regret it because he promoted structural changes that favoured the poorest,' said Padilla, who acknowledged the former president's 'problems', including 'his relationships with underage girls and the fact that he sees himself as a saviour, driven more by ego'. But she still believes he should have run. 'Voting for Doria or Quiroga means voting for imperialism and for the US to retake control of Bolivia,' she said. If no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote, or at least 40% with a 10-point lead over the runner-up, a second round will be held on 19 October, which would be unprecedented in the country's history. Doria Medina and Quiroga are running for the fourth time, but still present themselves as political outsiders. Both advocate spending cuts as their main strategy to tackle the economic crisis. Quiroga says he would prioritise relations with the United States, while Doria Medina has promised to restore the supply of dollars and fuel within 100 days. His campaign slogan is '100 días, carajo' (100 days, dammit), a reference not to the Argentine president Javier Milei's libertarian rallying cry 'Viva la libertad, carajo!' (Long live freedom, dammit!), but to the 2005 plane crash Doria Medina survived, after which he said: 'Carajo, no me puedo morir' (I can't die, dammit!). Riding a motorbike decorated with campaign flags, automotive engineer Juan Pablo Rodríguez, 28, attended Doria Medina's final rally in La Paz on Tuesday with his wife, Michelle López, also 28, and their one-year-old daughter. 'Samuel can fix the crisis because he's a great businessman,' he said. One of Bolivia's wealthiest men, with a fortune in cement, hospitality and fast food, Doria Medina told the Guardian that if elected, he plans to restore the Plaza Murillo clock to its original, clockwise direction: 'Rationality will return, at last.' The current clock, he said, symbolised a country 'moving backwards'. The clock – with the number 12 still at the top, but with hands turning to the left to count the hours – was installed in 2014 on the initiative of David Choquehuanca, then foreign minister under Morales and now vice-president under Arce. He claimed it was a way to affirm Bolivia's identity as a 'southern nation', arguing that a southern hemisphere sundial shadow moves left. But physicist Francesco Zaratti, an emeritus professor at the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, has long argued the clock 'makes no scientific sense', noting that in Bolivia the shadow can sometimes move right. 'When we have a new president, I bet it'll be one of the first things to go, as a symbolic end to Mas's 20-year cycle in power,' said Zaratti. Grover Quispe Lima, 35, looks at the clock every day as he sells maize to feed the hundreds of pigeons in Plaza Murillo. He has been walloped by the crisis, with maize prices rising from 120 (£13) to 200 (£21) bolivianos in a year. 'To me, it's irrelevant whether the clock moves backwards or forwards – the only thing that matters is that the next president improves our country,' he said. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Yahoo
100 days of Pope Leo XIV: A calm papacy that avoids polemics is coming into focus
VATICAN CITY (AP) — When Pope Leo XIV surprised tens of thousands of young people at a recent Holy Year celebration with an impromptu popemobile romp around St. Peter's Square, it almost seemed as if some of the informal spontaneity that characterized Pope Francis' 12-year papacy had returned to the Vatican. But the message Leo delivered that night was all his own: In seamless English, Spanish and Italian, Leo told the young people that they were the 'salt of the Earth, the light of the world.' He urged them to spread their hope, faith in Christ and their cries of peace wherever they go. As Robert Prevost marks his 100th day as Pope Leo this weekend, the contours of his pontificate have begun to come into relief, primarily where he shows continuity with Francis and where he signals change. Perhaps the biggest takeaway is that after 12 sometimes turbulent years under Francis, a certain calm and reserve have returned to the papacy. Leo seems eager above all to avoid polemics or making the papacy about himself, and wants instead to focus on Christ and peace. That seems exactly what many Catholic faithful want, and may respond to what today's church needs. 'He's been very direct and forthright … but he's not doing spontaneous press hits,' said Kevin Hughes, chair of theology and religious studies at Leo's alma mater, Villanova University. Leo has a different style than Francis, and that has brought relief to many, Hughes said in a telephone interview. 'Even those who really loved Pope Francis always kind of held their breath a little bit: You didn't know what was going to come out next or what he was going to do,' Hughes said. An effort to avoid polemics Leo has certainly gone out of his way in his first 100 days to try to heal divisions that deepened during Francis' pontificate, offering messages of unity and avoiding controversy at almost every turn. Even his signature issue — confronting the promise and peril posed by artificial intelligence — is something that conservatives and progressives alike agree is important. Francis' emphasis on caring for the environment and migrants often alienated conservatives. Closer to home, Leo offered the Holy See bureaucracy a reassuring, conciliatory message after Francis' occasionally authoritarian style rubbed some in the Vatican the wrong way. 'Popes come and go, but the Curia remains,' Leo told Vatican officials soon after his May 8 election. Continuity with Francis is still undeniable Leo, though, has cemented Francis' environmental legacy by celebrating the first-ever ecologically inspired Mass. He has furthered that legacy by giving the go-ahead for the Vatican to turn a 430-hectare (1,000-acre) field north of Rome into a vast solar farm that should generate enough electricity to meet Vatican City's needs and turn it into the world's first carbon-neutral state. He has fine-tuned financial transparency regulations that Francis initiated, tweaked some other decrees to give them consistency and logic, and confirmed Francis in deciding to declare one of the 19th century's most influential saints, John Henry Newman, a 'doctor' of the church. But he hasn't granted any sit-down, tell-all interviews or made headline-grabbing, off-the-cuff comments like his predecessor did. He hasn't made any major appointments, including to fill his old job, or taken any big trips. In marking the 80th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki last week, he had a chance to match Francis' novel declaration that the mere possession of nuclear weapons was 'immoral.' But he didn't. Compared to President Donald Trump, the other American world leader who took office in 2025 with a flurry of Sharpie-penned executive decrees, Leo has eased into his new job slowly, deliberately and quietly, almost trying not to draw attention to himself. At 69, he seems to know that he has time on his side, and that after Francis' revolutionary papacy, the church might need a bit of a breather. One Vatican official who knows Leo said he expects his papacy will have the effect of a 'calming rain' on the church. Maria Isabel Ibarcena Cuarite, a Peruvian member of a Catholic charismatic group, said it was precisely Leo's quiet emphasis on church traditions, its sacraments and love of Christ, that drew her and upward of 1 million young people to Rome for a special Jubilee week this month. Ibarcena said Francis had confused young people like herself with his outreach to LGBTQ+ Catholics and approval of blessings for same-sex couples. Such gestures went beyond what a pope was supposed to do and what the church taught, she thought. Leo, she said, has emphasized that marriage is a sacrament between men and woman. 'Francis was ambiguous, but he is firm,' she said. An Augustinian pope From his very first appearance on the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, Leo has insisted he is first and foremost a 'son of St. Augustine. ' It was a reference to the fifth century theological and devotional giant of early Christianity, St. Augustine of Hippo, who inspired the 13th century religious Augustinian order as a community of 'mendicant' friars. Like the other big mendicant orders of the early church — the Franciscans, Dominicans and Carmelites — the Augustinians spread across Christian Europe over the centuries. Today, Augustinian spirituality is rooted in a deep interior life of prayer, living in community, and journeying together in search of truth in God. In nearly every speech or homily since his May 8 election, Leo has cited Augustine in one way or another. 'I see a kind of Augustinian flavor in the way that he's presenting all these things,' said Hughes, the theology professor who is an Augustine scholar. Leo joined the Augustinians after graduating from Augustinian-run Villanova, outside Philadelphia, and was twice elected its prior general. He has visited the Augustinian headquarters outside St. Peter's a few times since his election, and some wonder if he will invite some brothers to live with him in the Apostolic Palace to recreate the spirit of Augustinian community life there. A missionary pope in the image of Francis Leo is also very much a product of the Francis papacy. Francis named Prevost bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, in 2014 and then moved him to head one of the most important Vatican jobs in 2023 — vetting bishop nominations. In retrospect, it seems Francis had his eye on Prevost as a possible successor. Given Francis' stump speech before the 2013 conclave that elected him pope, the then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio essentially described Prevost in identifying the church's mission today: He said the church was "called to go outside of itself and go to the peripheries, not just geographic but also the existential peripheries.' Prevost, who hails from Chicago, spent his adult life as a missionary in Peru, eventually becoming bishop of Chiclayo. 'He is the incarnation of the 'unity of difference,' because he comes from the center, but he lives in the peripheries,' said Emilce Cuda, secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. Cuda said during a recent conference hosted by Georgetown University that Leo encapsulated in 'word and gesture' the type of missionary church Francis promoted. That said, for all Leo owes to Bergoglio, the two didn't necessarily get along. Prevost has recounted that at one point when he was the Augustinian superior, the then-archbishop of Buenos Aires expressed interest in assigning an Augustinian priest to a specific job in his archdiocese. 'And I, as prior general, said 'I understand, Your Eminence, but he's got to do something else' and so I transferred him somewhere else,' Prevost told parishioners in his home state of Illinois in 2024. Prevost said he 'naively' thought the Francis wouldn't remember him after his 2013 election, and that regardless 'he'll never appoint me bishop' due to the disagreement. Bergoglio not only made him bishop, he laid the groundwork for Prevost to succeed him as pope, the first North American pope following the first South American. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press
Boston Globe
2 days ago
- Boston Globe
100 days of Pope Leo XIV: A calm papacy that avoids polemics is coming into focus
Leo seems eager above all to avoid polemics or making the papacy about himself, and wants instead to focus on Christ and peace. Advertisement That seems exactly what many Catholic faithful want, and may respond to what today's church needs. 'He's been very direct and forthright … but he's not doing spontaneous press hits,' said Kevin Hughes, chair of theology and religious studies at Leo's alma mater, Villanova University. Leo has a different style than Francis, and that has brought relief to many, Hughes said in a telephone interview. 'Even those who really loved Pope Francis always kind of held their breath a little bit: You didn't know what was going to come out next or what he was going to do,' Hughes said. Advertisement Leo has certainly gone out of his way in his first 100 days to try to heal divisions that deepened during Francis' pontificate, offering messages of unity and avoiding controversy at almost every turn. Even his signature issue — confronting the promise and peril posed by artificial intelligence — is something that conservatives and progressives alike agree is important. Francis' emphasis on caring for the environment and migrants often alienated conservatives. Closer to home, Leo offered the Holy See bureaucracy a reassuring, conciliatory message after Francis' occasionally authoritarian style rubbed some in the Vatican the wrong way. 'Popes come and go, but the Curia remains,' Leo told Vatican officials soon after his May 8 election. Leo, though, has cemented Francis' environmental legacy by celebrating the first-ever ecologically inspired Mass. He has furthered that legacy by giving the go-ahead for the Vatican to turn a 430-hectare (1,000-acre) field north of Rome into a vast solar farm that should generate enough electricity to meet Vatican City's needs and turn it into the world's first carbon-neutral state. He has fine-tuned financial transparency regulations that Francis initiated, tweaked some other decrees to give them consistency and logic, and confirmed Francis in deciding to declare one of the 19th century's most influential saints, John Henry Newman, a 'doctor' of the church. But he hasn't granted any sit-down, tell-all interviews or made headline-grabbing, off-the-cuff comments like his predecessor did. He hasn't made any major appointments, including to fill his old job, or taken any big trips. In marking the 80th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki last week, he had a chance to match Francis' novel declaration that the mere possession of nuclear weapons was 'immoral.' But he didn't. Advertisement Compared to President Donald Trump, the other American world leader who took office in 2025 with a flurry of Sharpie-penned executive decrees, Leo has eased into his new job slowly, deliberately and quietly, almost trying not to draw attention to himself. At 69, he seems to know that he has time on his side, and that after Francis' revolutionary papacy, the church might need a bit of a breather. One Vatican official who knows Leo said he expects his papacy will have the effect of a 'calming rain' on the church. Maria Isabel Ibarcena Cuarite, a Peruvian member of a Catholic charismatic group, said it was precisely Leo's quiet emphasis on church traditions, its sacraments and love of Christ, that drew her and upward of 1 million young people to Rome for a special Jubilee week this month. Ibarcena said Francis had confused young people like herself with his outreach to LGBTQ+ Catholics and approval of blessings for same-sex couples. Such gestures went beyond what a pope was supposed to do and what the church taught, she thought. Leo, she said, has emphasized that marriage is a sacrament between men and woman. 'Francis was ambiguous, but he is firm,' she said. From his very first appearance on the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, Leo has insisted he is first and foremost a 'son of St. Augustine. ' It was a reference to the fifth century theological and devotional giant of early Christianity, St. Augustine of Hippo, who inspired the 13th century religious Augustinian order as a community of 'mendicant' friars. Advertisement Like the other big mendicant orders of the early church — the Franciscans, Dominicans and Carmelites — the Augustinians spread across Christian Europe over the centuries. Today, Augustinian spirituality is rooted in a deep interior life of prayer, living in community, and journeying together in search of truth in God. In nearly every speech or homily since his May 8 election, Leo has cited Augustine in one way or another. 'I see a kind of Augustinian flavor in the way that he's presenting all these things,' said Hughes, the theology professor who is an Augustine scholar. Leo joined the Augustinians after graduating from Augustinian-run Villanova, outside Philadelphia, and was twice elected its prior general. He has visited the Augustinian headquarters outside St. Peter's a few times since his election, and some wonder if he will invite some brothers to live with him in the Apostolic Palace to recreate the spirit of Augustinian community life there. Leo is also very much a product of the Francis papacy. Francis named Prevost bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, in 2014 and then moved him to head one of the most important Vatican jobs in 2023 — vetting bishop nominations. In retrospect, it seems Francis had his eye on Prevost as a possible successor. Given Francis' stump speech before the 2013 conclave that elected him pope, the then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio essentially described Prevost in identifying the church's mission today: He said the church was 'called to go outside of itself and go to the peripheries, not just geographic but also the existential peripheries.' Prevost, who hails from Chicago, spent his adult life as a missionary in Peru, eventually becoming bishop of Chiclayo. Advertisement 'He is the incarnation of the 'unity of difference,' because he comes from the center, but he lives in the peripheries,' said Emilce Cuda, secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. Cuda said during a recent conference hosted by Georgetown University that Leo encapsulated in 'word and gesture' the type of missionary church Francis promoted. That said, for all Leo owes to Bergoglio, the two didn't necessarily get along. Prevost has recounted that at one point when he was the Augustinian superior, the then-archbishop of Buenos Aires expressed interest in assigning an Augustinian priest to a specific job in his archdiocese. 'And I, as prior general, said 'I understand, Your Eminence, but he's got to do something else' and so I transferred him somewhere else,' Prevost told parishioners in his home state of Illinois in 2024. Prevost said he 'naively' thought the Francis wouldn't remember him after his 2013 election, and that regardless 'he'll never appoint me bishop' due to the disagreement. Bergoglio not only made him bishop, he laid the groundwork for Prevost to succeed him as pope, the first North American pope following the first South American.
