College of St. Benedict names first black president

Mary Hinton has been named the first black president of the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Minn.

Hinton, 43, who is vice president for academic affairs at Mount St. Mary College in Newburgh, N.Y., will take over in June, St. Benedict announced Wednesday. She succeeds MaryAnn Baenninger, who is leaving to become president of Drew University in New Jersey.

Hinton, who has a doctoral degree in religion and religious education from Fordham University, said she was "humbled by the opportunity to lead an institution with such a powerful liberal arts tradition."

Lynn Newman, chair of the board of trustees of St. Benedict, said the board was "impressed with Dr. Hinton's breadth and depth of experience as a scholar and senior level administrator in higher education."

Hinton has been a top administrator at Mount St. Mary, a Dominican college, since 2011. Before that, she was associate vice president of academic affairs and chief planning and diversity officer at Misericordia University in Dallas, Pa.

She was also executive director of Replications Inc., a New York school reform group, from 1999 to 2006.

Rita Knuesel, provost at St. Benedict, called Hinton "a visionary" who has "a keen understanding of the changing landscape of higher education."

Maura Lerner • 612-673-7384