On April 21, Jonathan Peri was inaugurated as the ninth president – and first lay president – of Manor College, located in suburban Philadelphia, in Jenkintown, Pa. Leonard J. Mazur, chairman of the Manor College Board of Trustees (and co-founder of Akrimax Pharmaceuticals, LLC) conducted the investiture ceremony.
Mr. Peri has been with Manor College since November of last year, when he was selected by the board after an extensive national search. He succeeded Sister Mary Cecilia Jurasinski, who served as the college’s president for 30 years and now serves as the director of the Ukrainian Heritage Studies Center at Manor.
Previously, Mr. Peri was vice-president and general counsel at Neumann University (Aston, Pa.), where he was involved in major institutional decisions and strategic planning. He also served as director of the university’s Center for Leadership program, a venue for teaching ethical leadership, as well as on Neumann’s Board of Trustees Development Committee.
Mr. Peri has also served on three education-related boards in the state of Pennsylvania: the State Board of Education, the Charter School Appeal Board and the TAP 529 College Savings Advisory Board.
Mr. Peri received his Juris Doctor degree from the Widener University School of Law. He has completed all requirements, save for the dissertation, in Eastern University’s Organizational Leadership Ph.D. program with a concentration in education.
Manor was founded in 1947 by the Sisters of St. Basil the Great as St. Macrina College. In 1959 it became Manor Junior College. Today it is a two-year college offering over 30 majors. (For more information, readers may go to www.manor.edu.)
Following is an interview conducted with the new college president via e-mail by Roma Hadzewycz.
Manor’s new president with Sister Mary Cecilia, president emeritus and director of the college’s Ukrainian Heritage Studies Center.
How did it come to pass that Manor College opted to choose its first ever layperson as president?
The Sisters of St. Basil the Great and the Manor College Board of Trustees were seeking someone wholly aligned in spirit and mission, with credentials and experience in innovation, entrepreneurship, and fiscal stewardship of the higher education enterprise.
Today’s students are seeking a cost-effective means of obtaining an education. It’s all over the media of higher ed, as well as in mainstream media. Manor College is the best priced private two-year college in the entire region; one of the best in the country. Manor offers wonderful options with more than 30 degree programs, has a higher than national average starting salary after graduation, and higher than national average graduation rate.
Selecting a layperson president was a recognition that in a hyper-competitive marketplace, where Manor College is already well-positioned, a president needed to be chosen who could carry the torch forward in new ways that will contrast it with peers. One example of this connection between who we are as a Catholic Basilian institution of higher education and the competitive marketplace is the recent choice made by Manor College to have no tuition increase for academic year 2016-2017.
About that zero tuition increase for the 2016-2017 school year, what makes that possible? What is the message you are trying to send?
This 0 percent increase is the kind of entrepreneurial attitude we’re taking going forward because there’s multiple bottom lines. Of course, strategically it projects revenue increases through scales, as a result it saves students from increases in the amounts they have to pay out of pocket, which translates into smaller post-collegiate debt.
Because we’re careful about it, we get to keep our amazing 10:1 student teacher ratio, which makes the difference for students who don’t want to feel like sitting in a classroom is like sitting in a stadium. In our classrooms, you get to know the faculty, and they’re here to help.
It’s a win-win-win-win-win, with the last win being: this is what we want to do in the world as evidence that our mission is our point of difference. Our mission drives decision-making aimed at what is authentically good for our students and community.
What motivated you to apply for the presidency of Manor?
Philosophically, the idea of being in a position where others’ lives can be positively transformed through your efforts fulfills an inner calling to serve as a positive influence. That inner calling is rooted in faith and upbringing.
About a year ago or so, National Geographic did an article about time and its relationship to events and lives. There were some graphs. One of them showed the time our earth has been around versus the length of our lives. On the very, very long continuum of time, our lives are just about the tiniest dot-point. We all choose how we will live out such a minuscule moment before returning to our creator. Applying to the presidency at Manor was motivated by a worldview of having intentionality around doing for others in my minuscule moment. It was heartening to learn when I got here, that many at Manor feel so driven by the mission.
The mission at Manor is one that became compelling. When I was a student in grammar school, one of the nuns was asked why she became a nun. She said: Like a tap on the shoulder, you just know. God’s calling can be that way, and it was for me. When I read Manor College’s mission as America’s only Ukrainian Catholic institution of higher education, focusing on community, endeavoring peace through education and serving as a transformative institution for students, I felt a vocational calling to being present.
How does your experience at Neumann University translate to serving Manor College?
There were many experiences gained at Neumann. Working closely in and with executive administration, I got to see under the hood. There are a lot of moving parts in higher education, so coordinating it all is a bit like orchestrating the momentum under that hood.
Neumann was also a faith-based institution of higher education, so the opportunities and challenges have similarities to Manor’s, and through and through what energizes us each day is a knowing that God is present.
What were your first steps at Manor?
Institutionally, there was a need for reinvigorating our defining statements; the language we use to describe ourselves; the mission, vision, core values. Those statements are now updated, clear and hang from our walls and halls as a declaration of who we are. (See: http://www.manor.edu/about/history-mission.php.)
Planning was a key first step. Understanding where we are and where we’re going was and is an inclusive process. We brought to fruition a new strategic plan, very expeditiously, with full community and board input and support.
Fulfilling certain key roles was a first step. For example, the office of admissions at Manor was open and supported by an interim admissions director. Our search for the position began about five weeks before I took office. I was coming here once or twice a week leading up to the moment of formal appointment. The search concluded only after reviewing a significant number of exceptional applicants. Our new admissions director, Stephanie Walker, is moving the institution ambitiously in the right direction with a clear vision for getting there.
How has this been received by the college community – the students, faculty and administration?
Manor is a small community, so while communications in higher education may always face some sector-particular challenges, we are blessed that the discussions among each other are often close and always very respectful. I keep an open-door policy, and people visit the office all day long. Time is made for as many as time will allow. In taking this approach, the community has been well-informed. And not just well-informed, but well-involved, as was the case during our strategic planning process. Messages that are shared are not just shared to the community but with the community.
We’ve also read about Manor’s new partnerships in various fields of endeavor. Would you tell us a bit about those and what they mean for the students?
Partnerships are of several varieties. To view the picture at its broadest level, what our Ukrainian community and our world needs to know is that our doors are open to new ideas and discussions. We are ready for new conversations to explore new possibilities. We’ve done that with several organizations, notably, several Ukrainian organizations, other colleges and universities, high schools, the local park, private businesses, government offices and the list goes on. For students, it means that we are increasing the opportunities.
Here’s one example: A prestigious regional university has an evening early childhood education program that fits nicely as the second two years to Manor’s first two years of early childhood curriculum. The discussion about a bridge between the programs is happening, and has also opened the door to new conversations, such as whether this university may become one of Manor College’s University Center partners, where Manor students can seamlessly move through all four years of college, on Manor’s campus, because the partner university is willing to bring its curriculum to our campus so that Manor students always have the convenience and resources of our campus.
What does a two-year college like Manor offer students working toward their bachelor’s degrees? Who are your students?
The University Center @ Manor College is a center where students can earn their associate, undergraduate and graduate degrees all while taking advantage of the welcoming, caring, personalized and high-quality education and values Manor College is known for.
Manor College only partners with top accredited nationally and internationally known universities and organizations. Degrees, credentials and certificates are held to the same high standards as students completing that same degree at the partner institution’s home campus. All of the degrees awarded will be the exact same degree earned at the home campus, taught by the exact same teachers and curriculum, only with the convenience, services and amenities offered at Manor College’s University Center.
Each degree program is offered in a planned sequence so that students can earn their degree in a designated time period with additional attention for the busy adult learner, with most programs only requiring one meeting a week. Each degree program can be completed in its entirety on the Manor College campus so that students do not have to commute to the home campus of the partner institution.
Currently, Manor College has partnership agreements with Alvernia University, Immaculata University and Widener University, whereby students can earn their bachelor or graduate degrees from these respective universities, all while taking classes on Manor’s campus.
Is Manor a Ukrainian institution of higher learning?
It is a Ukrainian heritage institution, founded by and faithful to its Ukrainian Catholic Sisters of St. Basil the Great. Manor College is the only Ukrainian heritage institution for higher education in the United States – we are incredibly proud of our Ukrainian heritage.
What are your priorities for Manor for the near future?
To provide contemporary and innovative learning experiences sensitive to the needs of students and the community, for example, increased online and hybrid programming – three fully online programs are coming this fall: liberal arts, business administration, and health care administration. Also to extend the college’s mission-reach, build financial resources, create new opportunities for development and update organizational policies.
I see Manor as a four-year institution in the near future.
Is there anything you would like to add to better inform our readers about Manor College?
At Manor College our students are being prepared for a career and lifelong learning. But those shouldn’t happen in a silo. College is about the full formation of an individual. It is about a total experience that includes fundamental principles. For example, a career should certainly help make a living, but if you’re going to spend most of your life doing it, it should be something you like, and a career needs to be about more than just the bottom-line, it should be about how what you’re doing can improve the state of our world. If you can accomplish those things, you’ve done pretty well. But for those to happen, you have to have the right supports in place. It cannot be stressed enough how dedicated Manor College is to having our students succeed.
Just this past week it was announced that a class of 2016 graduate was one out of 75 students nationwide that was awarded The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation scholarship. This prestigious scholarship will provide this student with the funds needed to obtain her bachelor’s degree completely debt-free. Since this student does not have to worry about paying for college, this summer this student has decided to volunteer her time at a local free clinic translating for medical patients. It is stories of this kind of student success that makes Manor College such a unique and special place for our students.