University President Grey Dimenna will be extending his contract and serving until June 2019, instead of the originally-planned time frame of June 2018, according to an announcement on June 6, 2017.
Originally contracted to serve as president until June 2018, it was decided that the search for a new president would be too rushed if it had to be concluded by that date. According to Dimenna, searching for a new president is timely and complicated, and since the cycling takes place throughout the academic year, typically beginning in the fall, and can take more than a year.
“I love Monmouth, and even though I was really enjoying retirement, when Monmouth calls, it’s hard to say no,” he said.
Not wanting to rush the search, combined with a positive campus reaction about his presence, led to the extension.
In 1993 , Dimenna became the first internal general counsel for the University; prior to his hiring, the legal counsel for the school was a local law firm. Then-president Rebecca Stafford hired him in February 1995 and in July of that year the title was changed to Vice President of Internal Counsel. After 20 and a half years of employment in that capacity, he retired in July 2015.
Though Dimenna’s tenure as president was always planned to be short, he was never known as the interim president.
“The board had decided, pretty much from day one, that they didn’t want my title to be Interim president ,” Dimenna explained. “They felt that I was president, in the sense that I had full power, I had full authority, and they felt that using the title made more sense.”
After President Paul Brown’s retirement in February of 2017, the University’s Board of Trustees wanted to have someone who was familiar with the campus in the role, while they underwent a national search for a new president.
Dimenna noted that, since the general counsel works closely with board members, they knew him well; since they wanted someone who was familiar with the campus and the people there, he was an obvious choice.
“It would really help us to do [the search] more methodically and have more time,” said Henry Mercer, Chairman of the Board of Trustees , in a statement to the Asbury Park Press . “Since Grey (Dimenna) is doing a great job, we have the luxury of taking our time and doing it right.”
Despite only being in office for a short period of time, Dimenna has several projects in the works, including the Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music, which he believes will be “just wonderful” for the campus.
There are also plans to begin the creation of “an institute of health and wellness,” which will be an educational research center and policy-oriented, with regard to healthcare issues. The center will also partner with two of the state’s biggest healthcare systems, Hackensack Meridian Health and RWJBarnabas Health.
Both hospitals have representatives on the search committee for the director of that institute, which will consolidate all healthcare education on campus.
There will also be new programs, such as graduate programs for athletic training and occupational therapy.
He is also looking forward to seeing the progress of the Edison Hall renovations.
The renovations, which had just begun when he retired in 2015, are now nearly complete, and include new labs and conference rooms for students.
However, Dimenna’s real point of pride is working with the campus student body.
He spent the summer working with several groups of students, including Educational Opportunity Fund students, the orientation leaders, and the University ambassadors, who work as tour guides for the campus.
He even had the first two groups to Doherty House, the President’s residence, for celebratory dinners (with a dinner promised to the University ambassadors as well).
The resident assistants for the campus buildings also had a lunch there.
“I was just so energized by the students in those groups,” Dimenna said. “They are such wonderful students, and they are so pumped up, and they are so eager to learn.”
On freshman move-in day, Dimenna could be found driving a golf cart and assisting with move-in, much to the delight of students, parents, and resident assistants.
“I love the president,” said senior biology student Natalie Toro, who is also a resident assistant in Spruce Hall. “I had lunch with him and he was so interested about who I am as a person. He cares about each person individually and even remembered my name,”
“He even helped all of the freshmen on move-in day. He is extremely involved, and I think he is the best president we’ve had so far.”
For Dimenna, student interactions like helping out on move-in day are the best part of the job.
“I told people when I came here that it was my goal to be very visible, and to be seen, and attend events,” Dimenna said.
“This campus is so much nicer when the students are here. I love being with the students, talking to them, listening to them, showing up to their events and seeing how excited they are”
