Last Thursday, Chuck Saia, chairman of the Board of Trustees, stood up in front of the full Mt. Carmel Auditorium and announced Marie Hardin’s name as the 10th president of Quinnipiac University. 

“It’s a great day for Bobcat nation,” Saia said. “Early on in the process, I remember thinking ‘this is like finding a needle in a haystack’ and saying ‘we are not turning the keys over to just anyone.’”  

The search, supported by Spencer Stuart, the global search firm, surveyed hundreds of applicants — until a unanimous board decision picked Hardin as the university’s second female president in its history.  

The search for a new president began after current President Judy Olian announced her intentions to step down three days before the start of the fall 2024 semester. 

“There’s no question that there’s a mix of emotions,” Olian said. “When I first announced that I was stepping down, I don’t think I got through a sentence. We had such a warm and gratifying experience here. It’s hard to leave but you wanna leave when things are going really, really well, and you wanna leave when the person coming in after you can continue not just respect what has happened, but accelerate it.” 

Olian will continue to serve in her role until July 1, when Hardin will officially take over. 

“Can you tell I’m excited?” Hardin said after being introduced to the booming crowd in Mt. Carmel Auditorium. 

“I heard (Olian) earlier use the term ‘dream role,’” Hardin said. “For a president, I believe, a dream role happens because you’re in a community that lifts you up, that is interested in propelling the entire institution forward and supporting its students everyday. That’s the institution that’s made this a dream role for her and I know will make it a dream role for me.”

But who is Marie Hardin?

Hardin is a first-generation college graduate from Houston, Texas, from a working class community and is the second child of four siblings. 

Just like Olian, Hardin hails to Quinnipiac from Pennsylvania State University where she currently serves as the dean of the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications for the last decade. 

During her time leading the college — the largest accredited mass communications program in the country — “Hardin directed efforts that bolstered the program’s reputation for high-quality undergraduate and graduate education, broadened its impact in interdisciplinary research and expanded its outreach. Under Hardin’s leadership, the Bellisario College’s ongoing success has been the result of internationally renowned faculty and a highly collegial, collaborative culture fostered by employees and high-achieving, motivated students,” according to Penn State’s press release. 

“I really like Marie and I hope she likes me,” Olian said. “We have a very easy relationship. We’ll be having a lot of conversations.”

During her time as a professor she amassed a 4.7 rating on ratemyprofessors website — the largest professor rating website for colleges and universities. 

“If you have the opportunity to take a class with Dean Hardin, do not waste it,” the last review from January 2021 said. “She is amazing, her lectures were always incredible and the assignments were helpful. Make sure to go to her office hours to get to know her better! She expects us to work hard for the A, but it’s totally worth it. She was my favorite professor so far.”

The Bellisario College also has one of the highest graduation rates at Penn State under her leadership. 

“Dean Hardin has provided more than two decades of exemplary leadership and service to both the Bellisario College and the wider Penn State community,” said Penn State Interim Executive Vice President and Provost Tracy Langkilde in the university’s press release. “Her strategic leadership and dedication to the University have provided an example that permeates Penn State and has built an exceptional reputation for the college at Penn State and far beyond. She has positioned the Bellisario College for continuing success going forward.” 

Outside of her role at Penn State, in 2019 Hardin served as president of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication — a nonprofit, educational association of journalism and mass communication educators, students and media professionals. 

She chairs the committee for the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and serves on the leadership board of the Alliance of Schools and Colleges of Communication and Journalism. She is also the chair of the steering committee for the Hearts Journalism Awards Program — a program awards scholarships to students for outstanding performance in college-level journalism, with matching grants to the students’ schools. 

Hardin is also the author of more than 60 journal articles and one of the authors of “American Sports in the Shadow of a Pandemic” and “Routledge Handbook of Sport and Social Media.” She also works as a co-editor of Sage Journal “Communication and Sport,” which is a peer-reviewed, bimonthly journal that “publishes research to foster international scholarly understanding of the nexus of communication and sport.”  

Hardin earned her Bachelor’s degree in theology from Ambassador University, Master’s in communication from Georgia State University and a Ph.D. in mass communication from the University of Georgia.

She will be joined by her husband, a retired Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, Jerry Kammer. 

“This is all really impressive but that’s not the only reason the board selected (Hardin,)” Saia said. “She comes from the School of Communications, which was attractive with what’s going on in higher ed today and she has a knack for developing long term relationships. She is someone who is going to fit into our culture.”

“When I opened up the strategic plan and I read about the University of the Future, those really spoke to me and resonated with me,” Hardin said. “What a journey this university has been on.”  

For now Hardin will continue her role at Penn State, while working with Olian to ensure a smooth transition between the two presidents.

“The mark of a great institution is the transition that is smooth and takes the momentum and moves it forward,” Hardin said. “I have been so honored, privileged and blessed to be working with (Saia) and (Olian) on this transition and I just want to thank them.” 

Hardin is very passionate about continuing the work Olian started — including her tradition of president-student hours. 

“I’m very fortunate, this university is at a very strong place and it gives me the luxury of time to really get to know this community,” Hardin said. “There’s a culture here that is unique to Quinnipiac and I want to understand it and work with the community to evolve it.” 

Hardin also said she can’t wait to start coming to student and athletic events, and so the women’s ice hockey jersey bearing the number 10 on its back, which Olian gifted her at the announcement ceremony,  will definitely be put to good use.