Chaminade University's Board of Regents has named Brother Bernard Ploeger the school's new president.

Ploeger succeeds Sue Wesselkamper, who died Jan. 3 of cancer at age 66. Wesselkamper headed Hawaii's only Catholic university for 13 years. She was diagnosed with cancer in 2005.

Ploeger has served the university as its executive vice president and provost since arriving at Chaminade in 2001 at the invitation of Wesselkamper. He has served as Chaminade's interim president twice — first in 2005 when Wesselkamper was initially diagnosed with cancer until her return and currently since fall 2008 upon Wesselkamper's final medical leave of absence.

Ploeger was one of three finalists chosen by the presidential selection committee, who went through rigorous rounds of interviews and meetings with students, staff, faculty and other constituencies.

The two other people who were considered for the post were David B. House, who served as president of Saint Joseph's College of Maine from 1995 to 2007, and Gerard Voland, dean of the College of Engineering, Technology and Computer Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne.