MILWAUKEE — Alverno College’s board of trustees has selected Sr. Andrea Lee, a member of the Sisters, Servants of the 
Sr. Andrea LeeImmaculate Heart of Mary, as its eighth president. She succeeds Mary J. Meehan, who is retiring.
For nearly two decades, Sr. Andrea has served as president of St. Catherine University in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Prior to her work at St. Catherine, she held a variety of administrative positions at Marygrove College in Detroit.
She served as a member of the Alverno board of trustees 2012-2015, but resigned when she applied for the presidency. In a Feb. 23 interview with the Catholic Herald, Don Layden, chair of the board of trustees and the presidential search committee, said she did so in order to avoid a conflict of interest.
In choosing Sr. Andrea from a “robust group” of applicants, Layden noted Sr. Andrea’s “tremendous track record of success” in increasing enrollment and fundraising. He termed her a “rock star.”
Layden cited her “commitment to the mission of (Alverno), to educating women, and collaborating with faculty to create transformational experiences for students” as qualities that made her the top candidate.
As for what the community can expect from the new president, Layden responded, “Milwaukee will embrace her. She is a smart, dynamic woman who wants to make an impact in the community.”
Sr. Andrea, whose presidency will begin with the start of the 2016-2017 academic year, holds a doctorate and master’s in educational administration from Penn State, and undergraduate degrees in music, elementary education and Italian.
She is the adoptive mother of a son from Haiti, and the grandmother of two boys.
