St. Joseph’s University, New York students aren’t often intimidated by signing up for a class with the school’s president Dr. Donald Boomgaarden, Ph.D.
In fact, sometimes they don’t even realize who he is. Not long after he took over as president in 2017, a colleague mentioned they had a student in one of his classes.
“I said, ‘What does this student say about my class?’” he said. “And she said the student said, ‘Well Dr. Boomgaarden is really funny … he thinks he’s the president.’”
It was a “humbling moment,” Boomgaarden told Brooklyn Paper, but he didn’t particularly mind. When he teaches a class, or sits down with a student to play the piano, “they start to see you as a person, and not as the president.”
“I’d like to think that if they’re intimidated, it’s not very long, they realize I’m a person just like everybody else,” he said.
And that’s what he wants. Boomgaarden makes an effort to stay connected to the students and faculty at St. Joseph’s campuses in Clinton Hill and Patchogue, Long Island, especially as the school moves through some big changes.
Big changes at St. Joseph’s University, New York
One of the most significant changes at St. Joseph’s came in 2022, when the school received a university designation and was renamed St. Joseph’s University, New York from St. Joseph’s College.
“I worked very hard to make that happen, that was important to me, that St. Joe’s obtain university status,” Boomgaarden said. “We did that primarily through enlarging our graduate offerings.”
A “college” is usually a local school with a focus on undergraduate studies — whereas a university is regional, with both undergraduate and graduate programs. With its two campuses and significant budget, St. Joseph’s was essentially already a university when Boomgaarden arrived in 2017, he said, but without the official title.
“I felt that was something that would help our students,” he said. “It’s very prestigious to say you went to a university. It’s also very helpful to our faculty as they apply for grants, or if they travel abroad. In many parts of the world, if you say college, they think that’s a high school.”
Successfully earning the university designation is only one of Boomgaarden’s achievements. Since 2017, he’s helped increase the university’s endowment by roughly 160% and overseen new construction and renovations at both St. Joseph’s campuses. The school’s ranking in U.S. News and World Report has risen significantly, he added, and enrollment levels are almost where they were before the pandemic.
Looking toward the future
He’s hoping to continue those successes in the coming years.
“First and foremost, we want to make sure that the school continues on a good path financially and in terms of enrollment,” he said. “And I think we’re doing quite well there.”
The school has several new programs and courses of study, including a Master’s of Social Work (MSW), a Family Nurse Practitioner program, and a program for students who want to teach English as a Second Language — and Boomgaarden said a master’s program in Speech-Language Pathology is coming fairly soon.
On the ground, he and the St. Joseph’s faculty are working closely with students emerging from the COVID-19 era. During the worst of the pandemic, college and high school students spent years learning at home — divorced from their professors and peers.
At that time, there was “a lot of sadness” among students, Boomgaarden said, and he felt that he and his colleagues were responsible for bringing back the joy of learning and being on a college campus.
“I think you can see already this year that there are a number of students who have kind of readjusted to being in a social situation, coming to class, being on campus,” he said. “The spirit and the attitude of the students is excellent.”
Boomgaarden himself is a part of that spirit. While it’s easy for a university president to become isolated in their office, he said, he tries to get out and work directly with students and faculty. A longtime musician, he still teaches classes, writes occasional pieces for the choir, and even plays in a band with former students.
University leaders should “model” what they want to see, he said. If he wants a lively campus where students and faculty are actively engaged, he has to try it himself.
“I think a president needs to make that effort to get out and hang out with the students and be with them,” Boomgaarden said. “I need to do the same thing with the faculty. The faculty see the president doing that, they feel better about their jobs too.”
He feels all that work is paying off — and not just with university status or a larger endowment. Boomgaarden said he feels inspired by the Sisters of St. Joseph, who founded the institution in 1916, as well as the faculty, and works to carry on the original attitude of the Sisters, who wanted to impart values upon their students and give them some direction in the world in addition to educating them.
Boomgaarden said he feels that St. Joseph’s has a “tremendous impact on the world.”
“Our young people go out, they get jobs in schools and hospitals and businesses, they are so successful, and to be a part of that is meaningful to me,” he said. “That gives life meaning.”
