St. Catherine’s president to retire at the end of next year

The current president at St. Catherine University is set to retire next year, according to an announcement Tuesday.

President ReBecca Koenig Roloff plans to retire on Aug. 15, 2024, at the end of her eighth year as the head of the university.

A committee has begun a national search for her replacement and will oversee the transition process, the university says.

“Becky has led St. Kate’s through tumultuous times locally with the murder of George Floyd, nationally with dramatic changes in higher education, and internationally with the first pandemic in 100 years,” said Jean Wincek, chair of the Board of Trustees at St. Catherine University, said. “With insight, courage and commitment to the mission of educating women to lead and influence, Becky will leave our beloved university in a strong position as a vibrant Catholic institution with the liberal arts woven through every fiber of its academic programming.”

Roloff was hired as the University’s 11th president in 2016. During her tenure, Roloff reaffirmed the university’s Higher Learning Commission, combined two campuses into one unified campus in St. Paul and completed infrastructure improvements across campus.

“My professional life was launched when I came through Gate 1 as a first generation student in August of 1972,” Roloff wrote in a message announcing her decision to the university community. “The circle will close 52 years later in a role that is the privilege of my career. The life afforded to me because of my education at St. Kate’s drives all decisions and choices I make as president so that others have the same chance I did. I am forever a grateful Katie.”