Isabelle Cherney

Isabelle Cherney, Ph.D., Mount Mary University’s 13th president, is a respected social scientist and educator who was invited by the Obama administration on four occasions to participate in White House conferences.

Cherney assumed her duties as president on July 1, 2022, upon the retirement of President Christine Pharr, Ph.D.

Cherney’s academic research focuses on the effects of gender on STEM education and career pathways. She has experience in launching new programs, supporting educators and establishing early college and dual degree programs that provide high school students early exposure to college.

She was previously vice provost for graduate education at Merrimack College near Boston, Mass. Cherney has held multiple roles at the college since 2016, including dean of the Winston School of Education and Social Policy and founding director of the Merrimack Institute for New Teacher Support.

Cherney has also held positions at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., including professor, director of the honors program, founding director of the interdisciplinary doctoral program in leadership, and the associate dean of the Graduate School and College of Professional Studies.

Cherney is well familiar with the transformative power of a Mount Mary education. The family connection to Mount Mary is deep. Her husband and many of their nieces and nephews have been educated by the School Sisters of Notre Dame, the university’s sponsoring organization. Her sister-in-law graduated from Mount Mary with her undergraduate degree and one of her nieces earned a master’s degree from MMU. Her husband, Mike, is a Milwaukee native who grew up only one block away from campus.

A native of Switzerland, Cherney speaks four languages and is a world traveler who has spent time in 32 countries in five continents and visited 48 states in the U.S. She earned her Ph.D. in educational psychology and cultural studies from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and her M.A. in developmental psychology from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Creighton University.

As the founding director of the interdisciplinary leadership doctoral program at Creighton, Cherney worked with the school’s nine deans to create an innovative and transformational program. She continued her mission of building leadership at Merrimack, through employee training and the establishment of a summer leadership program for women in higher education at Creighton.

Cherney possesses a highly collaborative style of leadership and expects to place high priority on growing and supporting community partnerships. She plans to broaden awareness of the university’s goals and build partnerships with regional, national, governmental, religious and private organizations to promote the mission and vision.