Mary DiStanislao will take on the role of executive vice president in March following an official appointment from University President the Rev. Scott Pilarz Thursday.

Hailing from the University of Pennsylvania as the senior associate director of athletics and senior woman administrator, DiStanislao will report directly to Pilarz and will oversee the Office of Administration, the Division of Student Affairs and the Department of Human Resources. She will also have a hand in implementing campus-wide strategic planning with the president and the provost.

“Mary brings excellent leadership and management skills to Marquette,” Pilarz said in an email. “It is important to note that she describes her most crucial job as the development of students. She will be reviewing ways we can continue to ensure students are at the center of all of our work, using resources for their benefit.”

DiStanislao brings more than 35 years of experience to the newly created position. She has previously worked in higher education administration as a Division I women’s basketball coach and served in various positions within Penn’s Department of Athletics.

Last semester she was part of the peer review of Intercollegiate Athletics at Marquette.

DiStanislao has a doctorate in higher education from the graduate school of education at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as master’s degrees in business administration and education from the Kellogg School of Management and the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University, respectively.