Faculty + Staff

THERESE SCANLAN assumed the role of president at Oak Point University in June 2016, following her appointment as interim president from March to June of the same year. She previously held positions as COO and CFO, guiding various governance, legal, construction, and financial initiatives throughout the University’s period of substantial expansion. She has held various leadership positions across the University, from the former West Suburban College of Nursing to the present-day Oak Point University.

In the fall of 2021, under Dr. Scanlan’s leadership, the University celebrated three critical milestones in its history. First, it completed the lengthy years-long process of separating from its parent healthcare system and becoming an independent, nonprofit university. Dr. Scanlan was pivotal in overseeing the contract, financial, governance, and regulatory aspects of the change of control process. Second, it launched the University’s new name and brand. And third, it opened the University’s second campus in suburban Oak Brook, Illinois.

Dr. Scanlan spearheaded the planning, construction, and relocation of its main campus from Oak Park to Chicago’s Ascension Saints Mary and Elizabeth Hospital Center in December 2012. Dr. Scanlan’s vision for the future persisted at the new location. In 2016, the development of a new Interprofessional Education Simulation Learning Center, featuring 14 state-of-the-art rooms, replaced the original single-room center constructed in 2012. The new facility allowed students to work together on interdisciplinary patient care teams, utilizing didactic clinical, classroom, and simulation education. This resulted in graduates who practice patient-centered, integrated, team-based healthcare.

Apart from her work at Oak Point University, Dr. Scanlan has held several administrative positions in various sectors of higher education and non-profit management, including the City Colleges of Chicago, the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning, DeVry Chicago, and Governors State University, where she served as the Director of Financial Aid. She was also a faculty member in the School of Education at Capella University.