Office of the President

Lamont Repollet, Ed.D., was selected as the 18th leader of Kean University by the Kean Board of Trustees on May 11, 2020 following a comprehensive national search. He succeeded Dawood Farahi, Ph.D., who served in the role from 2003-2020.

A Kean alumnus and former member of the Board of Trustees, Repollet served two years as the Commissioner of Education under New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy before becoming Kean’s president.

During his time as commissioner, Repollet oversaw the shift to remote education amid the COVID-19 pandemic and played a key role in planning for the 2020-2021 school year. 

His other accomplishments as commissioner include expanding early childhood education; promoting a school culture that embraces social and emotional learning; and strengthening STEM opportunities for students. During his tenure, New Jersey's public schools were ranked number one in the nation in the Education Week “Quality Counts 2019” report, which captures key data to assess a state's educational performances.

From 2014 to 2018, Repollet served as superintendent of the Asbury Park School District. In his early days on the job, he carried a white hard hat to send a message that, with staff and students, he would rebuild the schools. New instructional and organizational approaches that he brought to the district helped increase the graduation rate by 30 percent. Before that, he served as principal of Carteret High School, where his leadership garnered national recognition, earning him a reputation for decreasing the achievement gap.

Repollet has long ties to Kean, having earned his master’s degree in educational administration from the University in 2000. He served on the Kean Board of Trustees from 2011 until 2018, assuming the role of secretary as well as chair of the Academic Policy and Programs Committee. While on the board, he visited Wenzhou, China in 2012 when Wenzhou-Kean University first opened and returned again to speak at WKU’s second commencement in 2017.

Repollet has earned honors and recognition from numerous organizations. In 2018, he was honored as an Outstanding Human Rights Educator by Kean’s Human Rights Institute. Most recently, he received the 2019 Medal of Excellence for Distinguished Service from The College of Education at Rowan University, the 2019 Trailblazer Award from the Innovation for Equity Summit and the 2019 Conclave Image Award from Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.

In addition to his Kean master's degree, Repollet received his Bachelor of Arts in communication from The College of New Jersey and a Doctorate in Education from Nova Southeastern University.