Father Paul R. Taylor, O.S.B., has been named the 18th president of Saint Vincent College, Latrobe, Pennsylvania, the first Benedictine college in the United States. Prior to assuming the presidency on July 1, 2019, he was executive vice president of Saint Vincent College, a role he served in for seven years. Under his leadership in 2017, the College launched the Forward, Always Forward, $100 million campaign to strengthen the school’s endowment, provide additional scholarships for students and enhance the academic programs. Additionally, the campaign will expand the library and technology information hub, provide advanced technology updates for Alfred Hall and the classrooms in the Robert S. Carey Student Center, and update the student life and humanities hub and dining services. Campaign funds already in hand provided for the $5 million James F. Will Engineering and Biomedical Sciences Hall, which was dedicated in November 2017. In his other service for Saint Vincent College, he assisted in the successful fundraising campaigns for the Herman and Sis Dupré Science Pavilion, the Fred M. Rogers Center, Headmasters Hall and a variety of scholarship endowment funds at Saint Vincent College.
Father Paul earned a bachelor of arts degree in mathematics from Saint Vincent College in 1987, a master of divinity degree from Saint Vincent Seminary in 1991, a master of arts degree in mathematics from Duke University in 1993 and a Ph.D. in higher education administration from Boston College in 1998. His dissertation was entitled “Boniface Wimmer and the Beginning of American Benedictine Education.” He entered the Saint Vincent Benedictine Community on July 1, 1987, and made simple profession of monastic vows on July 10, 1988, and solemn profession of vows on July 11, 1991. He was ordained a priest June 6, 1992, at Saint Vincent Archabbey Basilica by the Most Rev. Anthony G. Bosco, Bishop of Greensburg. He attended Sacred Heart School, St. Marys, and is a 1983 graduate of Elk County Christian High School, St. Marys.
Other administrative roles at Saint Vincent College include vice president of Institutional Advancement (2006-2009); associate vice president of Institutional Advancement (2003-2006), associate director (1996-97), director (1997-2001) and dean (2001-2003) of Admission and Financial Aid; and acting dean of students (1999-2000). In spring 2019 he served as a Keats Society Lecturer and visiting professor at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville.
In 2010, Father Paul was named to the Education Committee on Pennsylvania Governor-elect Tom Corbett’s transition team. The committee was co-chaired by Joel Greenberg of the Susquehanna International Group and Mark Nordenberg of the University of Pittsburgh. The members of each committee are tasked with reviewing the operations of the state government departments and agencies under the Governor’s jurisdiction and preparing a transition report.
After an invitation to visit Saint Benedict’s Prep from Father Edwin Leahy, O.S.B., in 1999, Father Paul did visit and began bringing Saint Vincent College students to the school for a week each January in 2000, a program which continues to the present day. He was named an honorary alumnus by the Saint Benedict’s Prep Alumni Association in 2010.
While attending Saint Vincent Seminary he served as assistant to the Planning Committee of the Saint Vincent College Board of Directors (1988-1990) and as a dormitory prefect and moderator at Saint Vincent College (1990-1992). From 1988 to 1990, he served as miller of the Saint Vincent Gristmill, then subsequently chaired the Gristmill Committee of the Archabbey, before being named director (2001-2017) and then consultant (2017-present) of the Gristmill.
At Saint Vincent Archabbey, Father Paul serves as executive director, Archabbey Apostolates and Endowments (2009-present). These stewardship efforts include Saint Vincent Seminary and the other major institutions sponsored by the Benedictines of Saint Vincent Archabbey, and the international Benedictine university of Sant’ Anselmo in Rome. Other apostolates include Saint Vincent Basilica Parish; Benedictine Military School, Savannah, Georgia; Wimmer Priory, Taipei, Taiwan and São Bento Priory, Vinhedo, Brazil. He also served as associate director of vocations (1996-2004). He also has taught in the novitiate of the Archabbey since 1996.
Father Paul has been active in pastoral ministry serving at Saint Thomas More Parish in Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Saint Lawrence Parish in Brookline, Massachusetts; and continues weekend ministry at Saint Louise de Marillac Parish in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and has assisted in pastoral ministry with the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2003.
Father Paul serves on the Board of Trustees of Fort Ligonier (2016-present), the Board of Directors of the Latrobe Area Hospital Charitable Foundation (2008-present), and as an advisor to the Board of Straub Brewery, Inc. (2010-present). He has been a member of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (2002-present0, and previously served on the boards of the Laurel Highlands Visitors Bureau (2005-2008), Benedictine Military School, Savannah (2004-2007), and the Board of Incorporators of the Saint Vincent College Corporation (1996-2002).
A native of St. Marys, Pennsylvania, he is the son of Irene Taylor of St. Marys and the late Robert Taylor. He has two brothers, Lawrence and Robert.
