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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Getting into a sort-of inner circle at the University of Notre Dame likely means more homework for King&#8217;s College President Rev. John &#8220;Jack&#8221; Ryan, and the worst part, he joked, is that &#8220;it doesn&#8217;t come with any perks.&#8221;</p><p>Ryan has been on the Notre Dame board of trustees since last year, and was recently elected to the smaller, and arguably more important, Fellows of the University, a group of 12 described in a media release as &#8220;&#8221;the university&#8217;s ultimate governing body.&#8221;</p><p>Asked exactly what the new position means, Ryan quipped &#8220;I had to look it up myself.</p><p>&#8220;I knew they had a two-tier board, but didn&#8217;t pay much attention until they asked if I would stand for election on the board of fellows,&#8221; Ryan explained. For the past year he has been one of 49 trustees, a job he said that already requires a good bit of work.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s the most active board I&#8217;m on. They send us homework, give us articles we have to read. It&#8217;s all to the good.&#8221; The board typically meets three or more times a year, usually on a Thursday and Friday, to conduct business.</p><p>Being a Fellow means he joins 11 others, six members of the Congregation of the Holy Cross which founded the university &#8212; and King&#8217;s College &#8212; and six lay people.</p><p>While that puts Ryan in some rarefied air at Notre Dame, it doesn&#8217;t include a secret handshake, special password or even any special access at, say, football games.</p><p>&#8220;They are sticklers on conflict of interest,&#8221; Ryan said.</p><p>Being a trustee and now a fellow doesn&#8217;t necessarily give King&#8217;s College special access to Notre Dame programs and assets, Ryan said. But the position &#8220;is helpful in terms of connections.&#8221;</p><p>The Indiana institution has a goal of being ranked among the top 5 percent of universities in pretty much any meaningful category, Ryan said, and the board of fellows is responsible for steering that course, in part by electing the board of trustees.</p><p>While the appointment is a feather in his proverbial cap, Ryan was his usual self, deferring the praise to the local community he serves through King&#8217;s.</p><p>&#8220;I consider it an honor and a privilege not only for me, but for the college and for the city of Wilkes-Barre. When a local guy from the Parsons section gets such a position, it speaks to the fact that people born and raised in Wilkes-Barre are every bit as talented as people from elsewhere.</p><p>&#8220;Sometimes we get down on ourselves in this area, and I like to remind people that at Wilkes University, Misericordia University and King&#8217;s College most students come from outside the area. People want to come here.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

King’s College president’s new Notre Dame position: More work, no perks