Fairleigh Dickinson picks a new president, the first alum to hold the post

Fairleigh Dickinson University has named its interim president and the university provost Michael J. Avaltroni as its ninth president, the board of trustees announced Wednesday. He will be the first FDU alum to take the university's helm.

Avaltroni, a Staten Island native and alumnus of the university, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry in 1999, took over as interim president in January after former President Christopher Capuano stepped down.

Capuano, who had been president since 2016, voluntarily cleared the way for new leadership, declaring that he was not prepared to commit to overseeing a new strategic plan, according to a public letter to the university from Robert Zatta, chair of the board of trustees.

Avaltroni, who also holds a doctorate in chemistry from Princeton University, is credited with playing a key role in establishing and overseeing the accreditation of the university’s pharmacy school over a decade, becoming dean of the School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in 2013. He moved up the ranks of university administration during his 20-year career at Fairleigh Dickinson, becoming provost in 2022.

Avaltroni said Wednesday that he is “deeply honored” to be awarded the position of university president and promised to devote himself to the job. “Since I have taken the role of interim president in January, I have gained an even deeper admiration for the FDU community,” he said.

More: We analyzed financial data for NJ private colleges and rated them. Many are struggling

F-D-Who?: Some facts about Fairleigh Dickinson University

The 80-year-old private university — which found itself in the national spotlight last month when its men's basketball team became the first 16 seed ever to beat a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament — serves more than 11,500 students across campuses in Teaneck and Madison in New Jersey, and in Vancouver, Canada, and Wroxton, England.

Private colleges facing financial challenges

Many private colleges and universities across the country have been buffeted by declining enrollment and reduced revenue because of the COVID pandemic and even before, while costs continued to rise.

An analysis of financial data for private colleges in New Jersey from 2016 through 2019 found that many were in poor financial shape as a result. But some of the larger schools, including Fairleigh Dickinson, were in far better financial shape.

Still, FDU had operating deficits of $16 million in the 2022 fiscal year, which ended last June 30, and $1.4 million the year before, and an operating surplus of only $293,000 in fiscal 2020, despite receiving millions of dollars in federal COVID relief in 2020 and 2021.

And its endowment remains quite modest, at $112 million at the end of fiscal 2022. That will likely be a priority for Avaltroni going forward.

The university’s board of trustees backed its decision to appoint Avaltroni as president based also on his contributions to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility initiatives at the university and for his work since January on a plan to revitalize the university with a “strategic transformation plan,” called "FDU Will Soar."

Avaltroni also oversaw new community college partnerships and the establishment of a Hispanic center, university officials said. The university also received a major gift in February during Avaltroni’s interim leadership that will provide psychological and social supports for new students by embedding graduate students in first-year undergraduate classes as they face what university officials called a changed post-COVID higher education landscape.

“Dr. Avaltroni continues to impress the board of trustees and the entire university community,” said Zatta, the board chair, with his “significant impact” and “his intelligence, passion, empathy and his unrelenting drive and determination to help this institution excel and to provide the support and the education our students need to make their dreams come true.”

Avaltroni was in the public eye in March when he traveled to Columbus, Ohio, to celebrate Fairleigh Dickinson’s upset win against Purdue during March Madness.

He served as an ambassador for the university to national media at the event, in which its barely known team made headlines, scoring its Cinderella-story win against Purdue, widely regarded as the nation’s top NCAA team.

Avaltroni has also hosted listening sessions and town halls since taking interim leadership, all of which made him the top choice for the top job, trustees said.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Fairleigh Dickinson picks an alum as its new president