St. Kate’s welcomes president-designate Dr. Marcheta P. Evans

Cover image: Dr. Marcheta P. Evans

Evans will begin her new role as president on July 15

By Natalie Nemes

Since President ReBecca Koenig Roloff announced her retirement on Aug. 15, the Presidential Search Committee has been hard at work looking for her replacement. After months of searching, on Mar. 20, Sr. Jean Wincek, the chair of the Board of Trustees, announced via an email to the student body that Dr. Marcheta P. Evans would succeed Roloff as president of St. Catherine University.

Evans, who will become the university’s 12th president, is the first Black person to hold the position. She will begin her time at St. Kate’s on July 15, allowing a month’s overlap between the beginning of Evans’ leadership and the end of Roloff’s.

“Dr. Evans’ astute understanding of higher education trends, particularly as they relate to smaller, private institutions, and her track record of developing and activating growth and transformation strategies, impressed the entire committe,” said Ken Charles and Anne Gotte, the presidential search committee co-chairs, according to the official St. Kate’s press release. “She clearly demonstrated her ethical decision-making process, rooted in values and principles consistent with our University’s mission, vision and values, which made her selection a logical choice.”

Evans has a long history of serving as an administrative member of higher education institutions. She is the current chancellor of Bloomfield College of Montclair State University in New Jersey. Before Bloomfield College merged with Montclair State due to lack of funds and declining enrollment, she held the position of president at Bloomfield.

Prior to her time in the Northeast, Evans was provost and vice president for academic affairs at Our Lady of the Lake University, a Catholic institution in San Antonio, Texas.

Alignment of values: ‘I don’t apply just to be a president.’

In an interview with The Wheel, Wincek said Evans’ commitment to St. Kate’s three core values — Catholic identity, women’s leadership and liberal arts — “was developed while she was president of Our Lady of the Lake University, which is another esteemed Catholic institution. She has seen the transformative power of a university that is clear about its mission.”

Sr. Jean Wincek Credit: Rebecca Zenefski Slater '10

Wincek spoke further about Evans’ personal and professional alignment with St. Kate’s values. “Dr. Evans has served at a diversity of institutions, and it became clear to the Board that she was uniquely suited to assume the role because we saw that our mission deeply resonates with her core values as an individual and as a professional,” she said. 

Wincek continued, “At the heart of her service over the years in academia, we could see that she had a commitment to the values that were akin to our vision, and our vision of being recognized globally as an institution that educates women to transform the world.”

Evans echoed Wincek’s statement when she spoke to The Wheel about her connection to St. Kate’s five core values: academic excellence, community, integrity, social justice and reflection — sharing her personal story along the way.

Evans said she grew up in the South during the Civil Rights Movement, and one of the ideas that was drilled into her from a young age was that “education was a key.”

Evans was often told, “My baby girl, you got to get your education. Once you get your education, no one can take that from you. They can take your house, your car, the clothes off your back. But once your mind is educated, you’re like free, right?”

The importance of academic excellence was ingrained into Evans “in utero.” Growing up, she said humorously, “We couldn’t miss school. I mean, unless we were ready to go to the hospital — we were on our deathbed — that was not an option.”

Although Evans’ higher education journey was long and winding — she started out as a biology major for three years, doubting herself because she “wasn’t academically prepared in high school to go into a STEM area” — she eventually secured her undergraduate degree in psychology and history and decided to go into counseling.

“I felt like students were not being advised well, or counseled at the high school level for life choices,” Evans said. “And so I made that decision again, to go into counseling, and that’s kind of been the trajectory of service and giving back.”

The university’s value of reflection, which is unique among higher education institutions, is something that drew Evans to St. Kate’s, partly because of her background in counseling. The social justice piece was also important to Evans, which shone through in the university’s DEI statement and land acknowledgment.

Evans emphasized the importance of finding an institution to serve that reflects a mission that aligns with her own.

“Some people look at, ‘I want to be a president.’ They don’t care where it is, or any of those other variables, but for my husband and I, we actually have a metrics of variables that we look at,” Evans said. “And so I don’t apply just to be a president. I’m really looking at mission, purpose, demographics, a variety of different things.”

When she was nominated for the presidential position at St. Kate’s, Evans started doing her research before applying, and the university’s mission, vision and core values all resonated with her.

Evans’ experience at Bloomfield College: ‘I would not be coming to an institution that I thought was closing’

After the turmoil she experienced at Bloomfield, Evans said she felt like St. Kate’s was her reward, “being here with you all.”

Even before the pandemic, Bloomfield was looking at potential partnerships to stay afloat. But the pandemic exacerbated the college’s financial situation, disproportionately impacting Bloomfield’s student population with a median family income of less than $33,000, eventually leading to the merger with Montclair State.

“In one semester, I lost over 300 and something students as far as not coming and returning back to higher education,” Evans said. “And if you equate 40 students, approximately, to $1 million. That is an extremely, you know— we only had an endowment of $15 million.”

Evans worked to maintain the core of the university during the transition, however. She said her two non-negotiables for a merger were keeping Bloomfield’s name and its mission, which includes serving predominantly first-generation Black and Hispanic low-income students.

“It goes back to the reason why we did it is really to benefit the students to keep the institution open,” Evans said. “There are no HBCUs [historically Black colleges and universities] in New Jersey; we were the only four-year predominantly Black institution.”

When asked how Evans would approach the situation if St. Kate’s found itself facing closure as another small liberal arts college, she said, “I don’t know what I don’t know at this particular point in time, but I will sit down with the team. We will work through it; we will make up the best plan.”

“I will tell you this though, I would not be coming to an institution that I thought was closing. I have lost the 50 pounds I gained through this process,” Evans added, laughing. “Haven’t gained my hair back yet. But I would not be here if I thought that was the same situation. So trust me on that.”

Wincek said that, when considering Evans as a potential candidate, her experience in higher education was evaluated holistically.

“We saw her as a seasoned and proven leader who recognizes the importance of having a clear roadmap to guide an institution through strategic growth and increased momentum,” Wincek said.

Wincek added, “She did there [at Bloomfield College] what needed to be done because of the culture and the … needs of that institution at that time.”

The hiring process: Searching for the right candidate

Evans’ hiring was the result of an extensive process that involved an external Executive Search Firm, listening sessions with community members, Zoom interviews with semi-finalists and campus interviews with the three finalists.

Out of 48 candidates, Evans was voted unanimously by the Board of Trustees to assume the role of president after a half-day-long deliberation, according to Wincek.

However, the Board did not make its decision in a vacuum. Throughout the months-long hiring process, Wincek said the search committee was committed to seeking out student opinions. Student Senate President Louise Ba acted as the student representative on the search committee, and students had the opportunity to meet the finalists during their campus visits and submit feedback via a digital form.

Looking toward the future

In her role as president, Evans spoke to the importance of prioritizing students’ needs and perspectives. “I’m taking that leadership role as a spokesperson, but being a spokesperson for you, right, your voices,” Evans said. “You’re the reason why we’re here, why we have the job.”

Students can look forward to Evans conducting listening tours with various student groups once she arrives on campus. In the meantime, the last few months of Roloff’s presidency will be filled with celebration, including a farewell reception open to students on April 24 in the Rauenhorst Ballroom at 3 p.m. Those interested in learning more about the entirety of the presidential search process can view further details on the search’s webpage.