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William J. Carroll

William J. Carroll, Ph.D., became the 10th president of Benedictine University in July 1995. Under his leadership, Benedictine has grown from a small local college to a university with regional, national and international reach.

During Carroll’s tenure, master’s degree programs and two doctoral programs were introduced and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Breakfast was established. He was instrumental in the establishment of the First Responder Program, which provided a free college education to public safety personnel. The program was extended to Illinois veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Benedictine also established branch campuses in Springfield, Ill., and Mesa, Ariz., under his watch. The University expanded into Naperville, IL in 2006 with the opening of the Margaret and Harold Moser Center for Adult and Professional Studies. In 2004, Benedictine formed partnerships with Shenyang University of Technology and Shenyang Jianzhu University to offer Benedictine master’s degree programs in China. The University currently offers complete degree programs throughout China and Vietnam.

Carroll took a pragmatic approach to helping students and their families during the nation’s financial crisis in 2008, recommending that the school’s Board of Trustees adopt a tuition freeze and supporting the “Displaced Earner Program,” which provided additional financial and other assistance to students whose parents lost their jobs during the crisis.

New campus facilities, including the Kindlon Hall of Learning, Birck Hall of Science, Founders’ Woods apartments and the Village of Lisle-Benedictine University Sports Complex have been constructed during Carroll’s presidency. The 125,000-square-foot Daniel L. Goodwin Hall of Business is scheduled to open in fall 2015.

Benedictine’s enrollment has grown significantly during Carroll’s tenure, from fewer than 3,000 students when he arrived to more than 10,000 today. The Chronicle of Higher Education ranked Benedictine University No. 1 among the fastest-growing campus in the country among private nonprofit research universities between 2002-2012.

Carroll has consistently promoted policies and values committed to inclusivity and in the Catholic and Benedictine traditions of welcoming the stranger. He was recognized for his contributions to diversity in higher education in 2014 when he was named a recipient of a Visionary Award by INSIGHT Into Diversity, the oldest and largest diversity magazine and website in higher education.

Carroll earned a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Scranton, and a master’s and doctorate in Philosophy from the Catholic University of America. Prior to Benedictine, he held several positions at Ohio Dominican College including Vice President for Academic Affairs, Acting President and Executive Vice President.