After five months of service as acting president, Kimo Ah Yun has been named the twenty-fifth president of Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is the first person of color to lead the university in its 143-year history.
According to the Department of Education’s most recent data, Marquette University enrolls about 7,500 undergraduate and 3,600 graduate students. Black students represent about 5 percent of the undergraduate population.
Dr. Ah Yun began his career with Marquette University in 2016 as dean of the Diederich College of Communication. In 2018, he was selected to serve as acting provost. He was named the university’s permanent provost and executive vice president for academic affairs one year later. Over the course of his eight-year-tenure, he has focused on improving the university’s community engagement, student services, academic programming, and infrastructure. He led the development of new endowed halls to house the business and nursing schools, as well as the establishment of the Lemonis Center for Student Success.
Prior to his career with Marquette University, Dr. Ah Yun spent two decades as a professor of communication studies at California State University, Sacramento. He held several leadership roles with Sacramento State, including associate dean of the College of Arts and Letters, chair of the department of communication studies, and director of the Center for Teaching and Learning.
“My top priority is ensuring we continue to provide a transformational education for our students so that our graduates are problem-solvers and agents of change,” said Dr. Ah Yun. “Grounded in its Catholic, Jesuit mission, Marquette was founded on the promise of educational access, and as we approach our 150th anniversary, students remain at the heart of all that we do. I look forward to continuing to work closely with our faculty, staff, students, alumni, and Milwaukee community in our continuous pursuit of excellence, faith, leadership, and service.”
A Black American with parents of Chinese, Hawaiian, and Portuguese descent, Dr. Ah Yun is a native of Compton, California. He holds a bachelor’s degree in communication studies from Sacramento State, a master’s degree in speech from Kansas State University, and a Ph.D. in communication from Michigan State University.
Hey JBHE,
Let’s set the damn record straight. Dr. Ah Yun is not a native born Black American. This guy hails from an immigrant background which is directly related to him receiving this position. In fact, the people at Marquette are fully aware that no substantive changes will occur during his tenure. That said, I am most confident the number of native born Black American students at Marquette will increase. However, the number of immigrant students at Marquette will definitely increase. In sum, Marquette University will never have a native born Black American president because too many of insecure White Catholics could never fathom such a thought.