Holy Cross president to step down

Photo | Courtesy of the College of the Holy Cross Rev. Philip Boroughs, outgoing president of the College of the Holy Cross

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By Brad Kane

The College of the Holy Cross on Tuesday announced its president, Rev. Philip Boroughs, would step down from his role at the end of the academic year, ending his nine-year run leading the Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester.

Boroughs' last day will be June 30, 2021, he said during a live video address to the campus on Tuesday. Boroughs, 71, plans to take a one-year sabbatical before taking a new assignment with the Jesuit Order.

A national search has begun to find his replacement, the college said in the Tuesday announcement.

"I feel that new energy and some different skills are needed to address the realities of the coming years,” Boroughs said in a prepared statement. “This time feels like a natural inflection and transition point for the institution: Our seven-year [fundraising] campaign just ended most successfully, and we have just begun a strategic planning process that will set goals for the college for the next three to five years. As I know from my own experience, it is important that a new president be part of that process, as it will give shape to his or her energies and commitments throughout their term of office.”

Boroughs is the latest college president in Central Massachusetts to step down or retire. Susan West Engelkemeyer, president of Nichols College in Dudley, announced on Sept. 9 she is retiring at the end of the school year after leading Nichols for a decade. Clark University President David Angel retired this past June and has been succeed by David Fithian. Charles Monahan, the president of MCPHS University in Worcester and Boston for more than two decades, retired in January; the search for his replacement is underway. The Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in North Grafton announced a new leader in April 2019, as Alastair Cribb took over as dean following former dean Deborah Kochevar becoming provost of Tufts University

Boroughs assumed office in 2012, and over the course of his tenure Holy Cross completed a $420-million capital campaign. The college instituted new academic initiatives, including the J.D. Power Center for Liberal Arts in the World, Arts Transcending Borders, and the Scholarship in Action program, which funds faculty research in Worcester. During his tenure, the college created the Office of International Students and opened a new Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, with the newly created position of associate provost for diversity, equity and inclusion.

In 2018, when Holy Cross was under pressure from students and the community to change its Crusader mascot, Boroughs compromised to appease alumni who felt a strong connection to the Crusader mascot and those who urged the college to sever ties with the name associated with the Holy Wars in the Middle Ages. Boroughs decided to change the primary logo used by the college, while still keeping the name.

Holy Cross' endowment is $786 million, which is the highest among Central Massachusetts colleges, and the school's full-time enrollment is just over 3,000.