Over the summer, Donald B. Taylor, president of Cabrini University, informed the Cabrini University community that he would undergo back surgery, placing him on medical leave for the fall 2018 semester. Brian Eury, chief of staff and vice president of external affairs, would then become acting president of the university, focusing on day-to-day leadership with the help of administration, provost, faculty and staff.
“Typically, when the president of a university has to step away for any reason, it is usually the provost who becomes the acting president.” Eury said. “But, because Mark Kiselica, who is an unbelievable asset to Cabrini, stepped up from dean of the school of humanities and social sciences to become the acting Provost, we just felt that the decision of the board, executive committee of the board, and Donald Taylor was to go with my position because I worked in the president’s office and worked closely with DT.”
Eury’s typical day consists of putting out [figurative] fires and being decisive, but making sure that the decisions he makes aren’t rushed since they must be in line with Cabrini’s long term plan. Eury is also filling the duties needed for the $24 million construction project going on campus. This includes working with the project manager, neighbors of Cabrini and the township to obtain the necessary permits.
Over the past couple of months, Cabrini has had many administration members leave to accept positions at different universities.
“Filling those spots has been time consuming with the search committees and in addition to the larger search committee for the provost, which is a huge change,” Eury said.
Eury was the youngest of five growing up and was always interested in politics.
“We were always engrained with giving back,” Eury said.
While in school, Eury went through four different majors at three different colleges including, Delaware County Community College, then eventually back to Temple University. He grew an interest in bartending, which then sparked an interest to the possibility of owning a bar.
“One day a light went off,” Eury said.
Eury then attended Chestnut Hill College for an accelerated program majoring in Human Resource Management.
“I didn’t want to practice law, I just wanted to learn the law, so I felt an MBA for what I wanted to do gave me the most mobility especially since I was already 28 years old,” Eury said.
He then worked in health care hospitals as a lobbyist for eight years, working community affairs and with different constituent groups until one day was asked to move to Harrisburg.
“I didn’t want to just be a lobbyist, so when this position opened up, I jumped at it. It has been an unbelievable four years since then,” Eury said.
As Eury is adjusting to the added role of acting president, along with his current roles of chief of staff and vice president of external affairs, he has reflected on his journey to a career in higher education.
“I never thought higher education was going to be my career,” Eury said. “When I try to talk to students about my own pathways, I want to make sure that they know there are people here on campus who didn’t wake up when they were 5 and say, ‘I want to be in higher ed.’ There are people who have different journeys, that have had challenges in their life, and if they need to have a conversation about that then they should look here at Cabrini.”
