Ave Maria University

from that position in 2009, stating he was fired the second time because of a conversation he had with Academic Vice President Jack Sites about administrative policies harming the university's finances. He said his firing was "another mistake in a long series of unwise decisions" but that he would continue to guide students to AMU.
Monaghan planned to continue to expand the university and hoped to one day have an enrollment over 5,000, Division I athletics and an academic reputation as "a Catholic Ivy", however as of 2024, only had about 20 percent of this goal. The university's growth has fallen short of its stated goal of "growing the University's undergraduate enrollment at its main campus in Florida to approximately 1,700 students by the fall of 2016" and 1,500 by the year 2020.
In 2011, James Towey, former Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and former President of Saint Vincent College, was unanimously voted President of Ave Maria University by the AMU Board of Trustees. …