Fr. Mark Poorman, vice president for Student Affairs, will step down from his position at the end of the school year, the University announced Tuesday.
Poorman has served as vice president for 11 years and will be succeeded by Fr. Thomas Doyle on June 30.
Doyle currently serves as executive vice president at the University of Portland, a Catholic university in Portland, Ore. affiliated with the Congregation of Holy Cross.
"I am profoundly grateful for the privilege of serving the University for the past decade," Poorman said in a University press release. "This ministry to our outstanding students has been one of the most rewarding of my life as a priest and member of the Congregation of Holy Cross."
Poorman, who took the position of vice president in 1999, said in the release he will be on sabbatical leave next year, and then he will return to the theology department faculty. Previously, Poorman served as executive assistant to the executive vice president and as executive assistant to the president, and he is an associate professor of theology.
The Office of Student Affairs oversees residence life at the University and is involved in programs such as Campus Ministry, the Gender Relations Center, health and counseling services and Notre Dame Security Police.
During his tenure, Poorman worked on ongoing initiatives to maintain a diverse student body and oversaw construction on Duncan and Ryan Halls, the newest campus residence halls.
"Fr. Poorman has provided outstanding service to the students, faculty and staff of Notre Dame as our vice president for Student Affairs," University President Fr. John Jenkins said in the release. "On behalf of the University community, I thank him for his organizational leadership, his generous contributions as a Holy Cross priest-administrator, and, most importantly, his wholehearted dedication to our students."
Fr. Doyle graduated from Notre Dame in 1989 and was ordained in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in 1998. He was a rector in Keough Hall and an adjunct professor of business ethics in the Mendoza College of Business.
"Notre Dame has been a physical and spiritual home to me and returning again is a privilege," Doyle said in the release. "Fr. Poorman is not only a friend, but he has also been a mentor during my early years as a priest and rector. The Student Affairs Division is the integrating heart of a Holy Cross education that touches the intellectual, emotional and spiritual dimensions of students, faculty and staff."
Poorman graduated from the University of Illinois in 1976, earned a master of divinity degree from Notre Dame in 1980 and received a doctorate in Christian ethics in 1990 from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif.
"I look forward to continued collaboration with him in our efforts to reach our academic aspirations and to deepen Notre Dame's Catholic identity," Jenkins said of Poorman. "I am grateful that Fr. Doyle has accepted the challenge of following in some big footsteps. I know he will be up to it, and I enthusiastically welcome him back to his alma mater."
