Monsignor James P. Shea was inaugurated in 2009 as the sixth president of the University of Mary, succeeding Sister Thomas Welder, O.S.B., who had served as president for 31 years.

Msgr. Shea grew up on a dairy farm near Hazelton, North Dakota. He earned a bachelor's degree and a licentiate in philosophy as a Basselin Fellow in the School of Philosophy at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, later studying theology at the Gregorian and Lateran universities in Rome. Upon completion of his seminary formation at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, Msgr. Shea was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Bismarck in 2002.