The Lourdes University Board of Trustees announced that William J. Bisset, Ph.D., has been named the 12th President of Lourdes University. Dr. Bisset is currently Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs at Marymount University, where he has served since 2020. He will step into his new role July 1, 2023.
“Dr. Bisset has held senior-level positions at four nationally recognized colleges and universities,” says Lourdes Board Chair William Carroll. “Much of his work at Marymount University and Manhattan College has been in precisely those areas the Lourdes Board identified as priorities in its presidential search. He was the Board’s unanimous choice to lead Lourdes University into our exciting future.”
Dr. William J. Bisset has 34 years of experience in Catholic higher education administration, including key leadership roles at Marymount and Manhattan College. Under his leadership, Manhattan College and Marymount University experienced record growth in their undergraduate and graduate applicant pools while remaining faithful to their mission-centric commitments of serving diverse students and families of modest financial means.
His innovative initiatives helped make Manhattan one of the most ethnically diverse Catholic colleges in the United States and Marymount the only federally designated Hispanic-serving institution in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
“My tenures at Marymount and Manhattan have afforded me opportunities to gain the experience needed to address challenges that Lourdes and other mission-based, tuition-dependent institutions will face in the coming years,” says Dr. Bisset, whose roles have also included positions at Assumption and Saint Anselm Colleges.
Dr. Bisset will take over from Terry M. Keller, Ph.D., who has successfully led the university on an interim basis since October 2022.
