MILWAUKEE (AP) — Marquette University officials announced Wednesday that Kimo Ah Yun will serve as the school's next president.

Ah Yun had served as acting president since June, when President Michael Lovell died in Rome after a three-year battle with cancer.

Ah Yun becomes only the second lay person to serve as the Jesuit university's president. Lovell was the first, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Ah Yun joined Marquette in 2016 as dean of the school's J. William and Mary Diederich College of Communication. He was promoted to provost and executive vice president for academic affairs in 2018.