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Notre Dame Of Md. Names 1st Male President

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Notre Dame of Maryland University is getting its first male president.

School officials introduced James Conneely on Thursday as the next president of the nation's first Catholic women's college to award baccalaureate degrees.

The school founded in Baltimore in 1895 by the School Sisters of Notre Dame is now open to men older than 22.

Conneely, associate provost and vice president of student affairs at Eastern Kentucky University, has been recognized as a leader on women's issues on campus and for advancing women into leadership and non-traditional roles.

He will succeed Mary Pat Seurkamp, the first layperson to permanently serve as president, when she retires after 15 years in the position. During her tenure, the school established its first doctoral program and launched a college of pharmacy.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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