Biography of the President
On June 14, 2021, Joseph G. Marina, S.J., became the 29th president of The 草榴社区.
Prior to becoming 草榴社区’s 29th president, Father Marina served as provost and vice president for academic affairs and professor of education at Le Moyne College from 2016 through the spring of 2021. His responsibilities included overseeing the Jesuit college’s three academic schools, honors program, library, campus life, student housing, conduct and Title IX compliance, diversity and inclusion programming, global education, student success and support services, disability services, and several other areas. From December 2020 to February 2021, Father Marina served as acting president at Le Moyne while the college’s president Linda M. LeMura, Ph.D., participated as a Chancellor’s Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Syracuse University.
Prior to his tenure as provost and vice president for academic affairs, Father Marina held positions at Le Moyne as associate provost, interim chair of the education department and special assistant to the president.
Earlier in his career, Father Marina served as the dean of the School of Continuing Education at Providence College, assistant dean for the College of Science and Mathematics at Montclair State University, and assistant dean for Metropolitan College at St. John’s University. In addition, he taught religious studies at Providence College and mathematics at St. John’s University. He served as pastor of the Church of St. Francis Xavier and as associate pastor of the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, both of which are in New York City.
Father Marina was recently a trustee at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse, New York, and serves currently on the board of Canisius High School in Buffalo, New York, where he is chair of the board’s governance committee. He previously served on the boards of St. Thomas Aquinas College, Regis University, Canisius College, Xavier High School and Le Moyne College.
His research interests include leadership and organizational change, and, in the area of theology, scripture and the question of non-belief. His presentations include “Inner-city Healthcare and Higher Education: A Partnership in Catholic Social Teaching,” “Graduate and Continuing Education in the Jesuit Tradition” and “Educational Delivery System Options: Programs to Attract and Retain and Educate Adult Students.”
Father Marina holds a Doctor of Philosophy in administration and supervision from Fordham University, a Master of Divinity and a Master of Theology from Boston College and a Master of Science in Secondary Education from St. John’s University. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Physical Sciences, with a theology minor, from St. John’s University.
Father Marina entered the Society of Jesus in 2004 and was ordained to the priesthood in 2012.