DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/26 October) — Dr. Conrado “Bobby” Gempesaw, a Dabawenyo and an alumnus of the Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU) is the new President of the St. John’s University in New York, a Catholic and Vincentian university founded in 1870.
The university’s website, http://www.stjohns.edu/ announced that Gempesaw was installed as the university’s “17th and first lay president” on October 24.
The website describes its President as “an accomplished scholar, teacher and administrator who comes to St. John’s with almost three decades of academic and administrative experience.”
Before assuming the post of President of St. John’s University, Gempesaw served as Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
He also served as Dean of the University of Delaware (UD) Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, Vice-Provost for Academic and International Programs, Interim Dean of UD’s College of Arts and Sciences, and Chair of the Department of Food and Resource Economics.
He joined UD as an assistant professor in 1985, was awarded tenure and promoted to associate professor in 1989, and promoted to full professor in 1993.
In his message to the St. John’s University community, also posted in the university’s website, Gempesaw said he will “bear in mind the Catholic and Vincentian core values that have long guided this University.”
“I look forward to meeting many of you in the coming months and to the opportunity of working together to enhance our academic and research programs, broaden our community and global partnerships, and promote the Vincentian tradition of service to those most in need,” Gempesaw said.
“I ask for your prayers and support as we work together with a renewed commitment to sustain St. John’s outstanding reputation as one of the nation’s premier Catholic universities,” he added.
A news item in the university website in September said Gempesaw was among 10 persons named by Crain’s New York Business to its list of “People to Watch in Higher Education.” The list includes presidents and other senior administrators who are “successfully leading their New York based institutions during a time of unprecedented change in the higher education landscape.”
Gempesaw obtained his B.A. in Economics from the Ateneo de Davao University, his MS in Agricultural Economics from West Virginia University, and Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from Pennsylvania State University.
He is married to Clavel Albay who earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in Urban Affairs and Public Policy from the University of Delaware.
Ms Albay, also a Dabawenyo, was Mutya ng Dabaw 1975.
The couple has two sons, Daniel and David. Daniel completed a double degree with honors (magna cum laude) in Mathematics and Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Physics from the University of Delaware and an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech. David completed a double major with honors (summa cum laude) in Accounting and Finance and a double minor in Economics and Jazz Studies from the University of Delaware. He is a certified public accountant and completed his M.A. in Economics from Miami University.
St. John’s University has campuses in New York’s Queens, Staten Island, Long Island and Manhattan, in Rome and in Paris. (MindaNews)