Marc Long Announces Retirement After Ten Years as Mount Marty President

After a decade of leadership, Marcus Long, Ph.D., the 11th president of  Mount Marty University, has notified the University’s Board of Trustees of his plans to retire by December 31, 2025.  

“Dr. Long’s leadership at Mount Marty this past decade has been transformational,” said MMU Board of Trustees Chair Rob Stephenson. “MMU is a very different and much stronger institution because of his collaborative work with so many on campus and in the region.” 

During Dr. Long’s tenure, the Mount Marty community accomplished the following: 

• Changed from a college to a university and became the first private university in South Dakota to offer doctoral degrees, in nurse anesthesia and nursing leadership and education, while successfully adding graduate programs in biotechnology management and endocrinology. 
• Increased enrollment by nearly 30 percent during eight consecutive years of enrollment growth. Overall enrollment, not counting dual-credit high school students, stood at 970 in the fall of 2024, up from 750 in 2016. Average GPAs for undergraduate entering students in both 2023 and 2024 exceeded 3.4. 
• Built the Ruth Donohoe First Dakota Fieldhouse, a showplace for track and  field which provides much-needed space for other intercollegiate sports and extracurricular activities, and Rickenbach Suites, an innovative suite-style living option for Yankton-campus undergraduates. 
• Made faith and mission development a central focus, including closer cooperation with the Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls and creating a cabinet-level vice president to spearhead continued mission growth. 
• Revised the undergraduate curriculum to include courses and activities in Benedictine leadership, equipping students to become leaders in their communities throughout their lives.
• Worked with Avera Health to establish the Avera Nursing Advantage program, which offers significant financial and professional advantages to MMU nursing  students who choose to become Avera nurses after graduation. In the process, Mount Marty became Avera’s preferred nursing school. 
• Successfully completed the first comprehensive fundraising campaign in MMU history and more than doubled the endowment from $19 million to more than $41 million. 
• Created new intercollegiate athletics programs in archery, cheer, dance and football.

“Mount Marty’s success over the last decade is because many people have believed in our Benedictine mission and have worked to build programs and recruit and retain students,” Long said. “More and more students have chosen to become part of our academic community, which is the greatest honor we could ever hope for. MMU’s success has had little to do with decisions I’ve made. But as the Benedictine sisters know well, stability is important. I’m enormously grateful for the trust the Board, the sisters and the MMU community have placed in me since Lisa and I arrived in Yankton during the summer of 2015.” 

Long retires tied as the longest-serving current university president in South Dakota and the longest-tenured MMU president of the eight who weren’t Benedictine sisters. Nationally, he served four years as the chair of the Association of Benedictine Colleges and Universities and two years as chair of the Council of Presidents of the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC). Long was the first MMU leader to serve in either capacity. 

“The sisters deeply appreciate Marc’s focus on our Benedictine tradition and the tremendous results the university community accomplished under his leadership,” said Sister Penny Bingham, OSB, prioress of Sacred Heart Monastery. “We wish him well as he follows God’s call into the next stage of his life.” 

During the 2025 calendar year, the MMU Board of Trustees will work with the university community to conduct a national search for Mount Marty’s 12th president.

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About Mount Marty University

Founded in 1936 by the Sisters of Sacred Heart Monastery, Mount Marty University is South Dakota's only Catholic, Benedictine institution of higher education. Located along the bluffs of the Missouri River in Yankton, with additional locations in Watertown and Sioux Falls, Mount Marty offers undergraduate and graduate degrees focusing on student and alumni success in high-demand fields such as health sciences, education, criminal justice, business, accounting, recreation management, and more. A community of learners in the Benedictine tradition, Mount Marty emphasizes academic excellence and develops well-rounded students with intellectual competence, professional and personal skills and moral, spiritual and social values. To learn more, visit mountmarty.edu.