Utahns undertake senior leadership positions at The Catholic University of America

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H. Joseph Yost Ph.D., Maureen Condic, Ph.D. (left) are shown with their son Mathew Yost and his wife Clare.

SALT LAKE CITY — Two parishioners of the Cathedral of the Madeleine have been appointed to top positions at The Catholic University of America, the national university of the Catholic Church in the United States.

The couple, Maureen Condic, Ph.D. and H. Joseph Yost Ph.D., have accepted jobs as a distinguished university full professor and the inaugural ombudsman, and senior vice provost for research, respectively.

Condic, a neurobiology professor and ombudsman at the University of Utah, is finishing a six-year term on the National Science Board. She also received a five-year appointment to the Pontifical Academy for Life in 2015.

Yost is the Richard L. Stimson presidential endowed chair and vice chairman for basic science research at the U’s School of Medicine. He also is an inaugural member of the Society for Developmental Biology Academy, a Fellow of the American Association for Anatomy, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement for Science,

 As the senior vice provost for research at CUA, Yost will be working “to advance collaborative research partnerships between the university and federal agencies, corporations, donors, foundations and other universities to support and enhance the scholarly efforts of the talented and dedicated faculty at CUA,” he said.

Condic said that as a distinguished professor, which is a faculty member who is appointed to the university as a whole rather than being aligned with a specific academic department, “my role will be to promote interdisciplinary teaching on important scientific and social topics.”

 As ombudsman, she will work “informally with members of the university community to identify resources, clarify university policy and resolve conflicts,” she said.

 Although the appointments mean that the couple will be moving to Washington D.C., they plan to continue serving the Catholic community in Utah, they said.

The couple became parishioners of the Cathedral of the Madeleine when they moved to Utah in 1997 and enrolled their children in The Madeleine Choir School, “so we became more actively involved in the life of both the parish and the school,” Yost said.

At the cathedral, Yost served as an usher and member of the parish council, while Condic served as an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion. Their four children served as members of the MCS choir. One of their sons, Matthew Yost, returned to his alma mater last year to take the post of middle school principal.

 “The extraordinary beauty of the cathedral and of the liturgy have been an ongoing source of spiritual growth and support for our entire family,” Joseph Yost said. “The cathedral community has been a spiritual home for us,” but his new appointment gives him the opportunity to serve the Catholic Church in a unique way “with my talents and experience in building research and education enterprises.”

For Condic, the new job “will allow me to serve the community at the Catholic University of America by assisting individuals to address conflicts in a healthy and compassionate manner,” she said, and as ombudsman she expects to be able to complement and strengthen the existing conflict-resolution services.

 “I am also very excited about working with the outstanding faculty at CUA to develop interdisciplinary courses that promote a truly three-dimensional and Catholic understanding of important social issues,” she said. “This is a fantastic opportunity to join a vibrant and supportive academic community and to serve that community both as an educator and as ombudsman.”

 “We both hope to grow as Catholics, educators and administrators, in the context of a supportive university that is committed to both excellence and to the Catholic virtues of compassion, service and faith,” Yost said.

CUA is the alma mater of both Gregory Glenn, the choir school’s pastoral administrator and Matthew Yost, and “for any students considering a Catholic college education, CUA is certainly an excellent option to investigate, and we would be delighted to talk with prospective students in the diocese about this unique opportunity to join a vibrant community of scholars,” Joseph Yost said.

 “Joe Yost is an accomplishment teacher and researcher whose work has led to amazing discoveries that will lead people to leading better lives,” said Peter Kilpatrick, president of the Catholic University of America, about his new appointee.