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Towey appointed as president of St. Vincent College
archived from: 2006-04-21

James Towey, 49, has been named the 16th president of St. Vincent College, effective July 1, according to an announcement April 18 by Archabbot Douglas Nowicki, chancellor, and J. Christopher Donahue, board chairman.

Towey, who has served since 2002 as assistant to the president of the United States and director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, becomes head of St. Vincent, a 160-year-old Benedictine Catholic college in Latrobe.

In 1995 and 1996, Towey was a consultant on federal welfare reform to Florida State University and provided consulting services to then-Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham on the effect of federal welfare and Medicaid reform legislation.

“Mr. Towey represented the late Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity on legal matters in the United States and Canada for 12 years (from 1985 until her death) and traveled with her to numerous cities in North America,” Donahue said. “On seven occasions he went to Calcutta to assist the missionaries with legal and business matters and to work as a volunteer in their missions. Most notably, he served nearly two years as a full-time volunteer, a year in Mexico in one of Mother Teresa’s missions and another in her Washington, D.C., home for people with AIDS.”

A 1978 graduate of the Florida State University, where he earned a bachelor of science degree with high honors, Towey earned a juris doctor degree from the Florida State University College of Law in 1981.

James Will, St. Vincent’s outgoing president, will continue serving the college as vice chancellor/president emeritus.

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