{"id":3222,"date":"2019-12-04T14:31:44","date_gmt":"2019-12-04T19:31:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/?p=3222"},"modified":"2025-01-28T09:18:34","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T14:18:34","slug":"seton-hall-universitys-21st-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/2019\/12\/seton-hall-universitys-21st-president\/","title":{"rendered":"Seton Hall University\u2019s Twenty First President"},"content":{"rendered":"
Joseph E. Nyre, Ph.D., brings to Seton Hall a record of success in elevating institutions along with a deep understanding of the value of a Catholic education.<\/div><\/div>\n

As Seton Hall\u2019s first-year students navigated tentative paths through the lunchtime dining hall on their first full day on campus this fall, a man in a suit threaded among them, carrying his own tray and greeting everyone he passed.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow are you doing?\u201d Joseph Nyre asked one student after another. \u201cWhat\u2019s your name? Where are you from? How do you like your residence hall?\u201d<\/p>\n

Just as it was all new to them, so was it new to him too, a month into his term as Seton Hall University\u2019s 21st president. \u201cI try to greet as many students as possible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It is a habit of the Midwest, where he was raised and where unsolicited greetings are much more common than they are in the Northeast. But it is also a management style he brought with him from his previous job as president of Iona College, a Roman Catholic institution in New Rochelle, New York.<\/p>\n

One of Nyre\u2019s mantras is, \u201clisten, learn, then lead.\u201d If you have a president who comes in on day one and tells you, \u201cthis is how it\u2019s going to be\u201d \u2014 that\u2019s a problem, he said. \u201cBecause there are many people walking around this university who know much more about it than I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

A specific set of beliefs guide how Nyre spends much of his time. \u201cI believe thoroughly in shared governance, which is unique to higher education. I believe in our ability to plan and pull in the same direction to govern collectively. I also believe that university leadership must be engaged in learning about and in advancing the student experience, supporting academic and capital planning, and encouraging alumni to re-experience their alma mater.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nyre was a prominent child psychologist before becoming a college president, and he is accustomed to asking questions. \u201cPsychologists are trained to measure aspects of life that historically are difficult to measure,\u201d he said. \u201cI like to think that I still use it every day, in leading and in serving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the questions Nyre asks are simple. \u201cHow\u2019s the mac and cheese?\u201d he asked one student, contemplating what to add to his lunch tray. \u201cI heard it was pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n

But many are harder, and it was not always easy for him to ask them \u2014 to say anything at all, in fact \u2014 out loud.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would pray each night that I would not be called on at school,\u201d Nyre said about the stutter that plagued him as a boy in a blue-collar part of Beloit in southern Wisconsin. He wouldn\u2019t ask his teachers a question if he didn\u2019t understand something, and when called on to read out loud in class, he couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

The public school wasn\u2019t serving him, and a Catholic school education seemed out of reach. His mother, the oldest of nine, had grown up working on her family\u2019s farm, and his father worked in maintenance for 30 years at the same Wisconsin dairy plant. Nyre\u2019s mother was adamant about the importance of education, and she believed a Catholic education would change his destiny. So the Nyre family stretched and struggled, and with the help of an uncle, found a way to pay his tuition at Beloit Catholic High School.<\/p>\n

\u201cCatholic school saved my life,\u201d Nyre said. His stutter faded, and his grades rose. \u201cIt was a fresh start with people who believed in me.\u201d<\/p>\n

To go to college \u2014 he was the first in his family to make that journey \u2014 he enlisted and served in the Navy. \u201cFrankly, I did it because of the GI Bill. I saw it as a wonderful pathway to college,\u201d he said. \u201cI thought it might be the only path.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse he delivered pizzas, waited tables, sold men\u2019s suits, worked one summer in a steel mill \u2014 and found his career path majoring in psychology. After earning a master\u2019s degree at the University of Missouri, he joined the doctoral program at University of Kansas, where he met his wife. He and the former Kelli McIntyre have been married 24 years and have four children: Hadley, Henry, Charlie and Evelyn.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Nyre found a cause. \u201cThe more I learned about cognition and childhood disorders, the more it resonated with me, for not only my personal life but for how our system of care supports or may not support people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He had a cousin with Down syndrome who lived in a small town in Northern Wisconsin where everyone looked out for her. \u201cGrowing up, I thought that was how the world worked \u2014 that we take care of each other,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it wasn\u2019t until I learned more about our country and our system of care that I realized that\u2019s not the case everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t how the schools were working in Lawrence, Kansas, where he served as a school psychologist while studying for his doctorate, and where Kelli taught kindergarten through second grade. \u201cHe came and said, \u2018We\u2019ve got a serious problem in the school district \u2014 and in our country. We\u2019re not serving these children well. We need to find more innovative, effective ways of treating them,\u2019\u201d said Michael Roberts, emeritus professor in
\nthe Clinical Child Psychology Program at the University of Kansas.<\/p>\n

\"Joseph<\/a>
The Nyres<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

They designed what they called the Intensive Mental Help Program \u2014 where specially trained teachers, psychology graduate students and paraprofessionals worked with emotionally disturbed children whose behavior had led to them being ejected from school, even hospitalized. It took just two months for Nyre\u2019s idea to move from planning meetings to the classroom. The results were immediate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat caught my eye was not only that he cared about the children in the school district, but he also knew how to organize, how to get people on board,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cYou can just track it through time and can see all the times where he stood out for knowing what needed to be done and identifying the people that he could bring to the table to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The program and its interventions became a national model, garnering significant grant funding and producing research papers still often quoted in child psychology books and articles. \u201cJoe believes in the power of places and people to change destinations,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n

Nyre rose quickly in the field: two fellowships at Harvard Medical School, an offer of tenure after just a single year at Baylor University, and the presidency of the Hope Institute for Children and Families in Springfield, Illinois, a nonprofit dedicated to educating, treating and caring for children with autism spectrum disorders and other developmental disabilities. \u201cI knew that Hope had played a significant role in establishing President Kennedy\u2019s disability policy, which grew to become the current system of care for children with disabilities. I thought I could accelerate my impact there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Two weeks after he started at Hope, the organization\u2019s finances unraveled. But with time, hard work and a strong board, the situation eventually turned around. Nyre expanded Hope\u2019s university affiliations and its reach throughout the state. \u201cWe changed its business model so it wasn\u2019t just providing direct services to children. It began to unite universities and social-service agencies across Illinois to train pre-service teachers, practitioners and physicians on best practices. There was less focus on residential care and more focus on how to help people earlier,\u201d he said. \u201cWe went from serving 100 children to 30,000 people a year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nyre\u2019s time at Hope showed he had the skills to lead a higher education institution like the ones he worked with, and he offered himself as a candidate for a college presidency. Iona College recruited him as its first lay president in 2011.<\/p>\n

As with Hope, Nyre\u2019s early days at Iona brought a series of unexpected challenges that tested his resolve \u2014 and the spirit of the institution. \u201cLife is about how you show up on your hardest days,\u201d he said. \u201cEither you turn up your nose, or you roll up your sleeves. Sometimes challenges will rip a family or community apart, and other times it will unify them. They unified the Iona alumni base and the faculty and staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Nyre\u2019s eight years at Iona, the endowment tripled, and the school expanded both the campus itself and its academic offerings. \u201cThe school looked completely different from when I started as a first year,\u201d said Erin Kutch, a former Iona student who was president of the student government association as a senior. \u201cStudents may not know how much money he [raised] or how many buildings were built, but they know Dr. Nyre as the president who ate in our dining hall and who was at Mass with us on Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n

One person who does know quite well the specifics of Nyre\u2019s track record at Iona is Patrick C. Dunican Jr. He believes \u201cSeton Hall could not have made a better selection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dunican, the chairman and managing director of Newark-based law firm Gibbons P.C., said that Nyre \u201cwill lead the University to new, never-before-imagined success. He was marvelous for Iona and will be incredible for Seton Hall.\u201d Dunican has perspective on both schools: He earned his bachelor\u2019s degree at Iona \u2014 where he serves on the Board of Legal Trustees \u2014 and his law degree at Seton Hall, where he is former chairman of the law school\u2019s Board of Visitors.<\/p>\n

Seton Hall is almost three times the size of Iona, but its endowment is not, and increasing the endowment is
\na job Dunican thinks Nyre will be especially adept at. \u201cTo get [significant] gifts over the line, that takes a lot of skill,\u201d he said, citing what he called Nyre\u2019s \u201cunparalleled\u201d record at Iona. \u201cI think he taps into what motivates the person he\u2019s dealing with. He has extraordinarily high emotional intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Nyre believes Seton Hall has
\na responsibility to foster great
\nminds by engaging in the great
\nconversations, challenges and
\ndebates of today’s global society.<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Nyre arrives at Seton Hall at what he calls a \u201climinal moment\u201d in higher education, when private schools are especially vulnerable. \u201cThe enrollment demographics in the Northeast are more than troubling, and the feeder system of Catholic high schools is struggling,\u201d he said. \u201cThe number of closures, mergers and acquisitions will accelerate and be significant. Some have argued that either you\u2019re acquiring or you\u2019re going to be acquired.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks to a strong foundation and the work of many, Nyre\u2019s initial first-year class, 1,615 students, is the largest in Seton Hall\u2019s history. \u201cI believe thoroughly in the power of this place to transform lives,\u201d he said, invoking the University\u2019s tagline, \u201cWhat Great Minds Can Do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet for Nyre, it is more than a tagline. He believes Seton Hall has a responsibility to foster great minds by engaging in the great conversations, challenges and debates of today\u2019s global society. \u201cI believe the great debates and challenges of society will either emanate from a university campus or they will quickly find their way there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

So this fall the University is launching a series of events \u2014 called the Great Minds Dialogues \u2014 that will allow students to participate in civil, reasoned conversations while examining pressing questions and issues. Through lectures, discussions and panels, students will broaden their perspectives by sharing their ideas and seeing the world as other people see it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that speaks to what higher education, particularly Catholic higher education, can mean,\u201d he said.
\nAll four of the Nyre children attend Catholic schools. \u201cI saw what a Catholic education did for my husband, how it helped him to reach the place he is today and realize his potential,\u201d Kelli Nyre said. \u201cEven with great public schools everywhere we\u2019ve lived, I like the environment in the Catholic schools. We believe the intersection of faith and education is a wonderful place to live.\u201d<\/p>\n

The responsibility of serving as president of a Catholic institution is one Nyre feels deeply. \u201cThe highest form of service for a lay leader is to lead at a Catholic institution,\u201d he said. \u201cMy excitement in joining Seton Hall is filled with a tremendous sense of appreciation for the deep Catholic foundation and rich history the University enjoys. I\u2019m incredibly grateful for the warm welcome the Seton Hall community has given me, especially the priest community and His Eminence, Cardinal Tobin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nyre didn\u2019t officially start as president of Seton Hall until August 1, but he had so much to do in July that he ended up canceling a planned family RV trip to several national parks in the West. A few days after delivering his eldest daughter to her first year of college, he joined his wife and their three younger children in helping the Seton Hall first-year students move into the residence halls on campus. \u201cHaving just gone through it, I could relate to all these parents dropping off their kids,\u201d Kelli Nyre said. \u201cI was able to tell one tearful mom \u2018it\u2019s going to be OK,\u2019 and gave her a big hug.\u201d<\/p>\n

Upper-class students moved in the next day, and after Nyre\u2019s lunch in the dining hall he walked across the Green, greeting more students. \u201cI knew the names of the presidents at the schools I attended, but I couldn\u2019t pick them out walking across campus,\u201d he said. \u201cI think something unique about Seton Hall is that we should know who\u2019s who, and we shouldn\u2019t have artificial barriers in place. By Christmas maybe some of them will know who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sitting on the steps of Jubilee Hall was a gaggle of first years, waiting for their peer adviser to shepherd them to yet another activity meant to acclimate them to their new home. \u201cHow are you doing?\u201d Nyre asked them. \u201cWhere are you headed next?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joseph E. Nyre, Ph.D., brings to Seton Hall a record of success in elevating institutions along with a deep understanding of the value of a Catholic education. <\/p>\n

Continue ReadingSeton Hall University\u2019s Twenty First President<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4613,"featured_media":3240,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247,258,5,8,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2019-2022","category-articles-2015-2019","category-faculty","category-leadership","category-university-life","ratio-2-1","entry"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4613"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3222"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3688,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3222\/revisions\/3688"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}