NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Mark Kiselica, Ph.D., vice provost of the College of New Jersey, will become Iona College’s next provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, effective July 1, 2014.
After a national search, spanning several months and review of more than 70 applicants, Dr. Kiselica emerged as the clear choice for Iona. As provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, Dr. Kiselica will provide leadership in planning, developing, implementing, budgeting, and assessing all academic support and student life programs. He will also provide leadership in implementing many initiatives in the College’s five-year strategic plan, Advancing our Legacy and Defining our Future.
“Dr. Kiselica is an impressive professor, scholar and administrator,” said Iona College President Joseph E. Nyre, Ph.D. “He is joining the College at a pivotal time in our history. As we focus our strategic efforts, he is the right academic leader to guide our community toward advancing student distinction, academic distinction and affordability, as well as elevating the academic reputation of the institution.”
Dr. Kiselica is a psychologist, professor of counselor education, former dean of the School of Education, and, since 2009, vice provost at the College of New Jersey (TCNJ). Prior to joining TCNJ in 1994, he was an assistant professor of counseling psychology at Ball State University.
“I have known Dr. Mark Kiselica for over 15 years,” said TCNJ President R. Barbara Gitenstein, Ph.D. “During that time I have been able to observe the growth and enhancement of his administrative and leadership abilities. Mark is a skilled and caring academic leader, an individual who can encourage the best in others while expecting only the highest performance from himself. We will miss him at the College of New Jersey, but I know that he will make a tremendous positive difference at Iona College.”
Currently, Dr. Kiselica is completing a term as an American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania.
“Dr. Kiselica brings impressive academic and administrative credentials to the position of provost at Iona, as well as a deep moral commitment and a dedication to the mission of the college,” said Carl J. Strikwerda, Ph.D., president of Elizabethtown College. “As an ACE Fellow this year at Elizabethtown College, he has shown a clear grasp of the wide range of challenges facing private higher education and the creativity and vision to meet those challenges. He will be an excellent leader at Iona College and an able partner in working with President Nyre.”
Dr. Kiselica completed his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Saint Vincent College, his master’s in psychology from Bucknell University, and his doctorate in counseling psychology from the Pennsylvania State University. He also completed a predoctoral internship in clinical child and adolescent psychology at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
Dr. Kiselica is a national authority on the psychology of boys, men and masculinity, and he has dedicated his professional life to researching and addressing serious issues such as racism and adolescent pregnancy and parenthood. He is the author of 150 publications and the editor of the Routledge Book Series on Counseling and Psychotherapy with Boys and Men, which features 15 books addressing the mental health needs of various populations of boys and men. A former president of the Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinity, he has served as a consulting scholar for the Federal Fatherhood Initiatives of the Clinton, G.W. Bush and Obama administrations, and he was a member of the Steering Committee of the Newtown Pennsylvania No Place for Hate Campaign, named the outstanding anti-hate campaign for Pennsylvania by the Anti-Defamation League.
In recognition of his national impact on the science and practice of the profession of psychology and many social issues, Dr. Kiselica was named a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the recipient of the American Counseling Association’s Award for a Humanitarian and Caring Person. He was also named the Researcher of the Year by the Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinity and the American Mental Health Counselors Association. In addition, he has received several honors for his work in the classroom, including the Most Accessible Teacher Award from Ball State University in 1993 and the Counselor Educator of the Year Award from the American Mental Health Counselors Association in 1997.
Dr. Kiselica and his wife, Sandi, are the parents of three children: Andrew, Christian and Sasha.