Monmouth University President Patrick F. Leahy and Polling Institute Director Patrick Murray have been named to the 2023 NJBIZ Education Power 50 list. This is Leahy’s fourth and Murray’s fifth time being featured.
NJBIZ highlights education experts who have “demonstrated their commitment to the critical task of ensuring that New Jerseyans are prepared for the future.” This year, as colleges and universities are working to reverse enrollment declines that started during the pandemic, the honorees are facing new obstacles that “dissuade young people from continuing their education beyond high school.”
“Leahy has been a busy man,” NJBIZ writes, acknowledging his leadership through the throes of the pandemic while securing record philanthropic hauls and implementing an ambitious five-year strategic plan, “Excellence. Access. Ambition.” NJBIZ praises Leahy for leading Monmouth’s move to join the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) last year and overseeing efforts to physically transform campus through multiple investments and projects—”all while Monmouth continues to shoot up the rankings of top colleges in national publications.”
In a recent message to the campus community, Leahy welcomed Monmouth’s incoming class, the finest in the University’s 90-year history. The Class of 2027 enters with the institution’s highest-ever grade point average, 3.64, as well as the highest-ever percentage of out-of-state students, and the most students ever matriculated into the Honors School.
NJBIZ also recognized Murray, a “go-to source for political journalists,” as part of its Power 50 list, noting that he “runs the gold standard Monmouth University poll, one of the most highly regarded measures of opinion in the country.” Each month, NJBIZ notes, Murray and his team survey hundreds of people on topics from politicians to pandemic woes to spending plans, with the Poll consistently receiving an A rating from 538.com. Murray himself routinely appears on television news programs covering national elections and is poised for a busy year with the 2024 presidential campaign looming.
Learn more about NJBIZ and see the rest of the 2023 Education Power 50 list.