Nicholas Ladany will take the helm as the 17th president of Brookhaven’s Oglethorpe University on July 1, succeeding Lawrence Schall. The announcement was made March 11.
Ladany is currently the dean of the School of Leadership and Education Sciences and associate provost for academic outreach at the University of San Diego. He was selected after a nationwide search. Ladany will also serve as a professor of psychology at Oglethorpe.
“At Oglethorpe, the culture is about focusing on the whole student, both in academics and life,” Ladany said in a news release. “I’m struck by the work of Oglethorpe’s extraordinary students and deeply engaged faculty and staff. It is important to me to serve at an institution whose values I share. The people at Oglethorpe reached my heart.”
Ladany was unanimously elected as president by the Oglethorpe University Board of Trustees. Schall announced last year he was stepping down after nearly 15 years on the job.
“Dr. Ladany is an outstanding scholar and experienced leader and is highly regarded for building community while inspiring academic excellence,” said Tim Tassopoulos, chair of the board of trustees, in the release. “His leadership will be key to the continuation of the growth and momentum that Oglethorpe is currently experiencing.”
Born in Washington, D.C. to an immigrant family, Ladany was the first in his family to attend college, like nearly 40% of Oglethorpe students, according to the news release. This experience shaped his outlook on the role of education in society, he said.
“Education is a gateway to a better quality of life,” Ladany said. “As a university, we have privilege and with that, a duty to reach out to underserved populations. Everyone should have the opportunity to experience the transformative power of a liberal arts education.”
Ladany is the author of six books and more than 80 publications. He has given more than 250 national and international presentations on the topics of mental health supervision and training; diversity, inclusion, and social justice; and higher education leadership, according to Oglethorpe. Most recently, he published the article, “The Next Pivot for Successful Liberal Arts Colleges: The 2020s.”
Ladany received his Ph.D. in counseling psychology from the University at Albany, State University of New York, and has a bachelor of science in psychology from the University of Maryland. He is a Fellow of the Society of Counseling Psychology, a division of the American Psychological Association.
Prior to joining the University of San Diego in 2015, Ladany served as the Dean of the School of Education and Counseling Psychology at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California, according to the news release.
At Santa Clara University, Ladany developed and funded a second campus location focused on preparing teachers to work in underserved Latino communities, and he increased the diversity of faculty, staff and students at both institutions where he served as dean, according to the release.