A first for this New Jersey school.

From NJ.com:

Drew University inaugurates first full-term woman president

Drew University inaugurated MaryAnn Baenninger as its first full-term woman president on Friday, Oct. 2 before hundreds of onlookers.

Baenninger, who will serve as the school’s 13th president, told the crowd she became convinced that she “desperately” wanted the job after taking “a stealth drive” with her husband through the campus — known by students as “The Forest” because of its abundance of oak trees — and because of the school’s proximity to Morristown, Newark and New York City.

“There is no better location in the country for a liberal arts university,” said Baenninger, who previously served as the president of the College of Saint Benedict in Minnesota. “Do you hear that Drewids [nickname for Drew students]? There is no better location in the country for a liberal arts university.”

As recounted by associate dean Debra Liebowitz, Baenninger is known as “a tireless champion” for the school due in part to her willingness to engage with faculty and students. In one instance, Baenninger instructed freshman students in the art of eating chicken’s feet with chopsticks during an excursion in New York City, she said.