SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The man who once served as interim president of Le Moyne College will deliver the college’s undergraduate commencement address to the graduating Class of 2025.
Syracuse native and Le Moyne alumnus John Smarrelli, Jr. will speak to graduates at the Expo Center at the New York State Fairgrounds on May 18 in a ceremony that will begin at 9:30 a.m.
Prior to his role as interim president, Smarrelli served as Le Moyne’s first provost between 2001 and 2007, per Le Moyne’s announcement. He was named interim president following the retirement of Father Charles Beirne, and was the first Le Moyne alumnus and layperson to serve as the institution’s president, the college said.
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Smarrelli graduated from Le Moyne with a bachelor’s degree in biology. He also earned a master’s degree in chemistry in 1977 and Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1980 from SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry in Syracuse, later completing his postdoctoral work at the University of Virginia.
“I am thrilled to have John deliver the commencement address as he celebrates 50 years since graduating from Le Moyne,” Le Moyne College President Linda LeMura said in the announcement. “Beyond being a well-respected and groundbreaking academic leader, John is a close friend and colleague who recruited me to come to Le Moyne more than 20 years ago.”
Before and after Le Moyne
Before joining Le Moyne, Smarrelli worked for 18 years at Loyola University Chicago, starting in 1983 as a biology faculty member, and serving as chair of the biology department from 1993 to 1998 and dean of the College of Arts & Sciences from 1998 to 2001.
In 2009 he was appointed the 22nd president of Christian Brothers University (CBU) in Memphis, Tenn., the first non-Christian Brother to serve in this role.
During his tenure, he oversaw the launch of a massive, privately funded program to enroll students in the federal government’s Deferred Action Against Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
He also started programs in cybersecurity, graduate accounting, nursing, and physician assistant studies and launched a $70 million fundraising campaign.
Following his retirement as president in 2019, Smarrelli he was named CBU president emeritus and a three-block stretch in front of the university was renamed the Dr. John Smarrelli, Jr. Street in his honor, Le Moyne said.
