Wheeling Jesuit U. has a president, businessman Richard Allen Beyer. He takes office Jan. 2. He lives in
Reston, Va., currently is a corporate vice president and member of the executive committee at Trimble Navigation Ltd., which has global sales of $1.2 billion and provides global positioning solutions.
In addition to his business experience, Mr. Beyer also has 16 years in higher education, including board governance and financial modeling. He earned a bachelor’s degree at Olivet College in Michigan, later became chairman of its board and now is a trustee emeritus.
He is on the board of trustees at the American University in Washington, D.C., and the board of directors at the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges.
Margaret “Mimie” Helm, WJU board chairwoman, said,
“He brings a clear business mind to the position, a strong work ethic and a genuine respect for higher education and, most importantly, the Jesuit identity in higher education.”
He said,
“I am honored to become the new president of Wheeling Jesuit University,” said Mr. Beyer. “The institution’s commitment to educating the whole person, for the greater good, via its traditional Jesuit values, very much appeals to me.”
He’s the first non-Jesuit to be president. He succeeds Rev. Julio Giulietti, SJ, who was removed after two years in office without stated reason by fellow Jesuits (WJU trustees) with the subsequent approval of the WJU board of directors and the Maryland Province provincial, Rev. James Shea, SJ.
His departure and the manner of his unexpected removal was greeted with consternation and protest by a substantial representation of WJU students, alumni, and others. Giulietti is currently director of Loyola University of Chicago’s Vietnam Center.
Blithe Spirit 
Protestant hired as president of Jesuit University!
The next president must be a “practicing Catholic” said the WJU Presidential Search Committee in early August. Apparently, the Presidential Search Committee did not know where to find a “practicing Catholic,” so they hired a Protestant who digs “Jesuit values.” And just what might those values be?
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The committee chair has memo’d the WJU community, people employed by WJU or serving in a non-employee official capacity, that both finalist candidates are practicing Catholics. As to what are Jesuit values, I’d call that a meaty question.
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President-elect Beyer has no graduate degree, has never taught a college course, has no background in “Jesuit values,” and does not share the religious mission of the institution he’s been hired to lead. The WJU board of directors nevertheless thinks he is well-qualified for the job because he helped his current employer sell GPS equipment.
This marks the end of WJU as a Jesuit liberal arts institution, a tragedy borne of grave past and continuing mismanagement by a group of foolish, unimaginative people. It is a sad day for previously proud alumni.
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