At John Carroll University’s Board of Directors meeting in March, President Alan R. Miciak shared his plans for retirement at the conclusion of the 2025-2026 academic year. Just after noon on April 7, an announcement about Miciak’s departure was sent to the JCU community via email.
“I love the work and I love the people at John Carroll,” said Miciak via the announcement made on JCU’s website. “My years at John Carroll have been the most rewarding of my career and I want to thank the Jesuit community for their confidence in me as [the] director of the work at this amazing university.”
Since Miciak took office in June 2021, John Carroll has been recognized by several popular sources for its academics. For 30 consecutive years, JCU has been ranked among the top ten universities in the midwest by U.S. News & World Report. In 2025, the university was classified by the Princeton Review and Wall Street Journal as being among the top 7% of all four-year institutions in the country.
Shortly after Miciak became president, he came up with the Inspired Futures campaign, which has included more than 20 projects since 2022. His goal was to make John Carroll a destination campus by adding more to academic programs and the student experience.
The Inspired Futures campaign has over $100 million invested, which includes renovating Grasselli Library and upgrading Dolan and Pacelli Halls. In addition, the Athletic, Wellness & Event Center is almost completely built and Miciak will host its grand opening in September 2025. Also, the Gateway North Project, which will be located at the Warrensville Center and Milford Roads, is breaking ground in the summer of 2025.
JCU’s College of Health was launched in 2024, which installed new undergraduate programs, such as Public Health and Nursing and graduate degrees, including Applied Behavior Analysis, Clinical Mental Health Counseling, School Counseling, Sports Leadership and Exercise Physiology. The enrollment in these programs has grown rapidly. New nursing and exercise science labs were built around campus throughout 2023 and 2024.
John Carroll saw a major increase in enrollment while Miciak served as president. The undergraduate population will see one of its biggest single-year increases in the history of JCU in fall 2025. In the last year, the graduate student body increased by 13%.
Fundraising has also been successful during Miciak’s time as a leader. JCU has raised $76.7 million, which includes 17 gifts of at least $1 million. John Carroll’s endowment is at almost $300 million because of the large amount of donations from the institution’s community.
In 2024, Miciak created a Go National campaign with the vision of offering a JCU education to more prospective students nationally. This started with the university announcing the switch of athletic conferences. At the beginning of the 2025-2026 academic year, John Carroll will compete under the North Coast Athletic Conference instead of the Ohio Athletic Conference.
In spring 2025, John Carroll was chosen to be a national partner for the Evans Scholars Foundation, which is a distinguished scholarship program that is also awarded at other schools such as the University of Notre Dame, the University of Chicago and Northwestern University.
A committee that will select John Carroll’s next president is being formed within the next few weeks, which will represent the JCU community and select the candidate who will build off of Miciak’s success. WittKeiffer is a national higher education search firm that was hired to assist with the process.
“Al’s legacy will reflect his role as one of the most consequential presidents in our history,” Nancy Benacci ’77 and Bill Donnelly ’83 said as part of a statement on Miciak’s behalf. “We hate to see him go and wish he was staying longer.”
