Siena College today inaugurated Brother Ed Coughlin as its 11th president.
Brother Edward Coughlin, who prefers to be called "Brother Ed," has been interim president at Siena, which has about 3,100 undergrads, for over a year now. "I care for this school a great deal and thought maybe this is an opportunity if I could serve them well as their leader that I would do my very best to dig in and do as best I could."
The presidency runs three years and is subject to periodic review by trustees. Brother Ed himself trusteed three years at Siena, ascending to Interim President in August 2014 when Father Kevin Mullen resigned to become provincial minister of Holy Name Province. "I think we have the usual challenges of all higher education today to remain relevant and to remain accessible and to remain affordable. At the same time, I deeply believe in the Franciscan tradition and its valuing of education, not only in terms of preparing people to do well in the world of work, but also to be good people."
Friday’s installation ceremony was merely a formality: Brother Ed already has made a large impression on the student body. Senior Patrick Madden is Siena College Senate President: "The day he stepped on campus we could tell there's something different about this guy and we liked him a lot. You know Brother Ed is one of the most outgoing presidents I've seen here at the college. He loves to get to know the students, interacts with us really well, eats lunch with us every day of the week. Really devoted to making sure the students' voice is heard, making sure that he can do everything he can for us. Down to earth guy, lotta fun to be around. Glad to know him."
Brother Ed, a Buffalo native, has been involved in Franciscan higher education for over 45 years. "It's somewhat unique that I, as a lay friar, have pursued my studies and my degree, and just historically, I'm the first non-cleric to be the leader of the institution."
Coughlin’s mother, Margaret, attended the ceremony. "He always wanted to be, since he was in high school, always wanted to be a friar. But I didn't think it would go this far. Something you never dream of, I guess."
Siena's new president says he is ready to face challenges, obstacles and whatever else comes his way. "There's a lot of disruptions happening in higher education. They're in the paper almost every day. Decreasing numbers of students of college-going age. Costs. Tuition discounting, all those kind of things. So it's always a challenge. It's also a very significant challenge I think to continue to try to figure out the needs and interests of students today and how we might serve those interests tomorrow, while not losing the sense of real connection to our heritage and our traditions and some of the values we hope every student from Siena is able to carry forward."
