Achievements: SJC president appointed to new higher education leadership position

Dr. Donald R. Boomgaarden, the president of St. Joseph’s College, has been appointed to a new higher education leadership position, the college announced this week.

Boomgaarden is set to serve a three-year term as a board trustee for the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (CICU), a statewide association that represents the public policy interests for over 100 independent colleges and universities in New York State.

“Having had the privilege to work beside Dr. Boomgaarden on SJC’s Board, I am confident he will bring much knowledge and expertise to the boards he has recently joined,” said Christopher Carroll ’88, Esq., chair of SJC’s Board of Trustees. “These positions are an extension of Dr. Boomgaarden’s leadership and an opportunity to share his wisdom with colleagues in higher education.”

Since taking over as SJC’s eighth president in 2017, Boomgaarden has achieved some of the following feats:

• Overseen a successful reaccreditation with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education
• Launched a new strategic plan
• Grown the college’s endowment by nearly 50 percent and seen record-high enrollments on all three campuses — SJC Brooklyn, SJC Long Island and SJC Online. 
• Appointed as a Board Chair of the Association of Colleges of Sisters of St. Joseph
• Serves on the steering committee of the Long Island Regional Advisory Council on Higher Education (LIRACHE), where he is also chair to the Superintendents and College President’s Partnership, and as chair of the Lower Hudson Valley Consortium of Catholic Colleges and Universities.

The St. Joseph’s president has also been named influential Brooklynites by “Brooklyn Power 100” for two consecutive years. He was also ranked No. 6 on the Long Island Business News Power List: Power 25 in Education.

To learn more about Boomgaarden and SJC, click here.

Top: Courtesy photo of Dr. Donald R. Boomgaarden by St. Joseph’s College.