Sarah Muir
(10/25) On October 23rd, Mount Saint Mary’s University celebrated the inauguration of Timothy Trainor Ph.D., as its 26th president. The inauguration took place at Knott Arena and was preceded by a mass at the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception.
Trainor, who joined the university as interim president in August 2016 and was named president in June 2017, has overseen a vast improvement of enrollment rates, including the second largest freshman class in the Mount’s 208-year history. In the past year, the university has welcomed several academic programs from cybersecurity and PPE (politics/philosophy/economics) to
the new major and minor in entrepreneurship, which will be available in the spring semester of 2018. It has seen the opening of the Palmieri Center for Entrepreneurship, three student Fulbright award winners and articulation agreements with Frederick Community College in cybersecurity and biology. Trainor has also made efforts to expand the rosters for Division I sports, advance the Mount woman’s
rugby to varsity, and the welcome varsity men’s soccer back.
President Trainor’s vision for Mount St. Mary’s includes continued growth. In an interview Trainor stated, "I see the university in ten years being the top Catholic university in the Northeast region… and us being nationally known for certain programs and getting more and more on the national stage. I see us at a steady state of about 2,200 full-time undergraduates,
500-600 full time equivalent graduate continuing study students and about 160 seminarians and being ranked nationally in a few athletic programs."
Trainor is more than qualified to carry out these goals. Before joining the Mount community last August, he served in the Army, retiring as a Brigadier General after 33 years of service. In his final six years he was dean of the Academic Board for the United States Military Academy, West Point. As the chief academic officer, he led more than 800 faculty and staff spanning
three departments and 23 centers.
In describing his desired legacy, Trainor said: "When I’m gone, I want people to say that Trainor really cared about developing students to be successful in the future and cared about the development of the staff and the faculty to be the best they can be to help our students be successful in the future... I don’t want any legacy for particular buildings or programs. I
want people to say that he really cared about the students and making this university a place where people can become the best versions of themselves and that people will be ready to be ethical leaders and are prepared to lead lives of significance in service to God and others."
The Mount Saint Mary’s community is that Trainor’s legacy will be a long and bright one. "We’ve been lucky to have President Trainor on our campus for over a year, so we know that we’re getting a caring, organized, and thoughtful man in this important role," stated Professor of Chemistry and Chair of the Faculty Patricia Krete, PhD. "He spent a year getting to know our
campus community, our traditions, what we hold important, and what we hope for in the future. I think I can speak for the faculty in saying that we welcome Dr. Trainor as our president and colleague, and we look forward to working with him for many years."
Trainor earned his doctorate in industrial engineering from North Carolina State University, an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and a B.S. from the United States Military Academy. He and his wife, Colonel (Retired) Donna Brazil, are the parents of three children: Cory, Daniel and Zachary.
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