The Loyola Marymount University Board of Trustees has elected Timothy Law Snyder, Ph.D., as the 16th president of the university after a nationwide search. Snyder will assume his new position effective June 1, 2015.
Previously, Snyder was Vice President for Academic Affairs at Loyola University Maryland from 2007-2014. Snyder began his academic career at Georgetown University in 1987 and became Dean of Science before moving to Fairfield University as Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, in 2001.
In announcing the selection, board Chair Kathleen H. Aikenhead said, “Timothy Law Snyder is the best person to lead LMU forward. He has a long and distinguished career in Jesuit higher education as a teacher, scholar, dean and vice president, and has a passion for our mission of creating the well-rounded person within a rich academic community of excellence. We are grateful to have his experience and leadership.”
Snyder will replace President David W. Burcham, who announced in October 2014 that he would step down on May 31st. He was named president of LMU in 2010 after serving as LMU’s interim president and provost, and prior to that, dean of Loyola Law School.
As an accomplished academic, Snyder has received numerous grants and recognitions for his work and has focused on guiding his students to academic success. His teaching career also developed through visiting faculty positions at Berklee College of Music and The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He has also taught at Princeton University and the University of Toledo. His research interests include computational mathematics, data structures, design and analysis of algorithms, geometric probability, digital processing and computer music, and airline flight safety.
Father Michael Weiler, S.J., provincial of the California Province of the Society of Jesus, commended the search process and Snyder’s selection. “As an academic long engaged in the Catholic intellectual tradition, Dr. Snyder will continue to sharpen the university’s attention to its Jesuit mission of educating the whole person and the teacher-scholar model that has served LMU so well.”
Sister Joan Treacy, R.S.H.M., provincial superior for the Western American Province of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, added, “As the next president of LMU, Dr. Snyder brings many gifts to his new position, and in particular, his experience and love of music and the arts. The fine arts are dear to the Marymount tradition and so important to an excellent liberal arts education. We and the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange look forward to collaborating closely with him.”
A native of Ohio, Snyder earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in applied and computational mathematics from Princeton University as well as an M.S. in mathematics, a B.A. in psychology and a B.S. in mathematics from the University of Toledo.
