Mark L. Poorman is an American theologian, ethicist, and academic administrator who formerly served as the twentieth president of the University of Portland in Portland, Oregon, United States. Poorman was inaugurated as president of the University of Portland on September 26, 2014. [1]
Poorman spent his childhood in Phoenix, Arizona, Bakersfield, California, and Springfield, Illinois, where his father served as the founding president of Lincoln Land Community College. [2] He earned a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Illinois and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. [2] He later earned a master of divinity degree from the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana and a Ph.D. in Christian Ethics from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California.
Poorman was received into the Congregation of Holy Cross in 1977, made First Vows in 1978, professed Final Vows in 1981, and was ordained as a Holy Cross Priest in 1982. [2]
After completing his master of divinity, Poorman remained on Notre Dame's campus to serve as rector of Dillon Hall, associate director of campus ministry, and instructor of theology. [2] He returned to Notre Dame after earning his Ph.D. to become a member of the theology faculty and later an administrator. From 1999 to 2010, he served as Notre Dame's Vice President for Student Affairs and as priest-in-residence in Keough Hall on the campus. [1]
Poorman was named Executive Vice President of the University of Portland in 2011, overseeing university operations, financial affairs, student affairs, and university relations. [2] He also joined the university's theology faculty and helped to create the university's Dundon-Berchtold Institute for Moral Formation & Applied Ethics. [2]
At its January, 2014 meeting, the University of Portland's Board of Regents elected Poorman the institution's twentieth president, succeeding Rev. E. William Beauchamp, C.S.C., who had served as president since 2003. [2] Poorman was inaugurated on Friday, September 26, 2014 at a ceremony held at the Chiles Center on the University campus. [3]
In 2015, Poorman announced that the University of Portland would create a new strategic plan to guide the institution's mission fulfillment over the course of the next four years. [4] The plan, entitled Vision 2020, was launched in 2016 and provides strategies by which the University would fulfill its mission of teaching and learning, faith and formation, and service and leadership. [4]
Poorman teaches an undergraduate theology course on moral formation and ethics entitled "The Character Project." [5]
Theodore Martin Hesburgh, CSC was an American Catholic priest and academic who was a member of the Congregation of Holy Cross. He is best known for his service as the president of the University of Notre Dame for thirty-five years (1952–1987).
The Congregation of Holy Cross, abbreviated CSC, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of pontifical right for men founded in 1837 by Basil Moreau, in Le Mans, France.
Holy Cross College is a private, Catholic, co-educational, residential institution of higher education administered by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross in Notre Dame, Indiana. The college was founded by the Holy Cross Brothers in 1966.
Rev. John Ignatius Jenkins, C.S.C. is an American Catholic priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross. He is best known for his service as the 17th president of the University of Notre Dame from 2005 to 2024. He previously served as its vice-president and associate provost. He replaced Edward Malloy as president.
Rev. E.William Beauchamp, CSC, J.D., was named the University of Portland's 19th president by the Board of Regents on November 20, 2003. He served in that capacity until 2012, at which time he began service for the provincial administration of the Congregation of Holy Cross.
Rev. Edward Aloysius Malloy, C.S.C. is an American Catholic priest, academic, and former college basketball player who is a member of the Congregation of Holy Cross. Nicknamed “Monk Malloy”, he is best known for his service as the 16th president of the University of Notre Dame from 1987 to 2005.
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Paul Edward Waldschmidt CSC was an American prelate of the Catholic Church who served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon from 1978 to 1990.
Basil Moreau, C.S.C. was the French priest who founded the Congregation of Holy Cross from which two additional congregations were founded, namely the Marianites of Holy Cross and the Sisters of the Holy Cross. Moreau was beatified on September 15, 2007 in Le Mans, France.
Old College, built in 1843 by the founder of the University of Notre Dame, Rev. Edward Sorin, C.S.C., and the rest of the Holy Cross brothers, is the oldest standing building on campus. Together with other historic structures of the university, it is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Thomas J. O'Hara served as Provincial Superior of the U.S. Province of Priests and Brothers of the Congregation of Holy Cross from his election to the position on June 15, 2012 until the election of Father Bill Lies on June 14, 2018.
George Joseph Finnigan, C.S.C. was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Helena in Montana from 1927 to 1932.
John S. Dunne, C.S.C. was an American priest and theologian of the Congregation of Holy Cross. He held the John A. O'Brien Professorship of Theology at the University of Notre Dame.
Charles E. Sheedy, C.S.C. was an American priest and theologian of the Congregation of Holy Cross and an administrator at the University of Notre Dame.
The president of the University of Notre Dame is the chief administrator of the university. The president is selected by the board of trustees of the university, which has the general power of governance of the institution, and is second only to the university fellows. The president of the university is ex officio member of both the board of trustees and the fellows.
William Albert Wack, C.S.C. is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, serving as the bishop of the Diocese of Pensacola–Tallahassee in Florida since August 22, 2017.
The coat of arms of the University of Notre Dame is the assumed heraldic achievement of the University of Notre Dame. It was designed by noted American heraldist Pierre de Chaignon la Rose in 1931.
Carroll Hall is one of the 33 Residence Halls on the campus of the University of Notre Dame and one of the 16 male dorms. Carroll is located on the shores of St. Mary's Lake, and is the smallest of the residence halls, housing around 100 undergraduates.
Patrick Michael Neary, C.S.C. is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who serves as Bishop of Saint Cloud in Minnesota. He has worked as a missionary priest in Chile, Kenya, and Uganda, held leadership positions in the Congregation of Holy Cross (CSC) and filled pastoral assignments in the U.S.
Mark Gregory "Marcos Gregorio" McGrath, CSC, was an American-Panamanian Catholic prelate and priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross who served as the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Panamá and was a Council Father of the Second Vatican Council. He advocated for the return of the Panama Canal Zone to Panama and opposed the regime of Manuel Noriega.