Donald R. Boomgaarden, Ph.D.

Donald R. Boomgaarden, Ph.D., is the eighth president of St. Joseph's University, New York (SJNY). He began his tenure at the University in July 2017. During his time at St. Joseph's University, Dr. Boomgaarden has proven his steadfast leadership and commitment to moving the institution forward at a time of unprecedented challenge to the health and financial well-being of colleges and universities across the nation. In January 2025, the Board of Trustees of SJNY announced the extended appointment of Dr. Boomgaarden through July 2030.

During his time as president of SJNY, Dr. Boomgaarden has made significant improvements to the University, including increasing the endowment, successfully leading the institution during an unprecedented pandemic, making capital improvements to both physical campuses — most notably the development of the Student Center, a multimillion-dollar state-of-the-art facility on the Long Island campus — adding new, in-demand academic programs to the curriculum, and leading an historic designation change from College to University — a status granted by the New York State Department of Education and New York State Board of Regents in April 2022.

Of his many accomplishments, Dr. Boomgaarden has assisted in raising the profile of the institution by contributing to the steady increase in its national reputation. He has become a well-respected leader in the higher education landscape and has received many accolades for his contributions to the industry, earning recognition among his peers on City & State New York, PoliticsNY, amNY Metro, Long Island Press and Schneps Media’s Education and Power Lists.

Dr. Boomgaarden serves on the board of trustees for the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (CICU); is a member of the Association of Colleges of Sisters of St. Joseph (ACSSJ); a steering committee member of the Long Island Regional Advisory Council on Higher Education (LIRACHE), where he was also chair to the Superintendents and College President’s Partnership; and is a member of the Lower Hudson Valley Consortium of Catholic Colleges and Universities; and member of the Board of Trustees for Long Island Arts Alliance (LIAA) and Long Island Association (LIA).

Prior to coming to St. Joseph’s, Dr. Boomgaarden served as the provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at the University of Scranton in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He was the dean of the College of Music and Fine Arts and David P. Swanzy Distinguished Professor of Music at Loyola University New Orleans, and before this assistant provost at Loyola University, Maryland.

Dr. Boomgaarden is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, and also studied at the University of Vienna, where he was a Fulbright Scholar. He graduated from Harvard University’s Institute for Management and Leadership in Education, and has held teaching positions at the Eastman School of Music, Ithaca College Conservatory of Music, St. Mary’s College in Maryland, the Institut für Musikwissenschaft at the University of Salzburg, Loyola University Maryland and Loyola University New Orleans.

A concert pianist and country fiddler, Dr. Boomgaarden is also a noted historian of opera, music aesthetics and harmonic theory. He teaches classes in the areas of North American Roots music and on the history of opera, and his writings include his book on the interrelationships between philosophy and music, “Musical Thought in Eighteenth-Century Britain and Germany,” and articles in "The New Grove Dictionary” and “The New Grove Dictionary of Opera,” as well as the "British Dictionary of National Biography.”