Dr. Michael S. Brophy is serving in his fifth year as the president of Hilbert College, a private college that serves the Western New York community. During his tenure the College has increased enrollment by 20% by adding new degree programs, establishing an online division, and expanding its NCAA Division III athletic programs. Under Dr. Brophy’s leadership, the College’s longstanding mission of access has extended into the Buffalo Public Schools with its Dual Enrollment, Say Yes Apprenticeship, and Liberty Partnership programs. Most recently, Dr. Brophy supported Franciscan Services’ acquisition of Valley College, creating a consortium for Hilbert and Valley to operate within.
Dr. Brophy’s service as a private college president spans seventeen years. He became president of Marymount California University in 2006 when it was a small liberal arts college in Los Angeles. He led the transformation of the private two-year college to a multi-site university with undergraduate and graduate degree offerings, doubling enrollment, leading successful fundraising campaigns, and spearheading facilities improvements that built new living and learning environments.
Dr. Brophy was appointed president at Benedictine University (Chicago and Phoenix area campuses) in 2015 and led the University as it implemented its new strategic plan, increased fundraising, raised its Standard & Poor’s credit rating, opened a new college of business, and increased its graduate, online, athletic, and community college partnership enrollments.
Prior to his presidencies, he served as a campus dean within the University of Wisconsin system and as a dean of enrollment at Long Island University (New York), the State University of New York, and The Sage Colleges (New York). Dr. Brophy earned a BA in music and a MA in English from The College of Saint Rose, an MFA in writing from Long Island University, and a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
A Fulbright recipient, Dr. Brophy has taught and conducted research in Europe and Cuba. An accomplished filmmaker, he has written, directed and edited three films that screened at film festivals, theaters, museums, universities, and foundations throughout the United States, Cuba and Europe, and has had screenplays selected to the Independent Feature Project Market in New York. As a musician, he has accompanied gospel choirs and performed with students and faculty in classical, pop, and jazz settings. He and his wife, Tara, have three adult children who are the center of their lives.