As you may have heard, our President, Janet Steinmayer, has decided not to renew her contract and to conclude her remarkable service to Lesley at the end of her current term in June of this year. At the conclusion of her seven years, Janet will have boldly led the Lesley community through one of the most challenging and, thanks to her vision, transformative, periods in its history.
Janet began her tenure just before Covid turned higher education upside down. Since then, she has accomplished many things for the university, including:
- Navigated through the Covid challenge to make us stronger, including funding faculty training in remote teaching and bringing students back to campus;
- Launched a collaborative discussion about Lesley’s future, which led to the adoption of our ambitious Strategic Framework;
- Launched our Campus Plan initiative, which resulted in the investment of $100 million to modernize and transform our teaching, learning, and living environment – prudently funded from the sale of real estate which did not fit with the University’s current needs;
- Narrowed the gap between students and future employment with the Scholar Partner program and built a resource network to support our graduates throughout their careers. These same initiatives brought Lesley closer together with employers and other members of our larger community;
- Unified our support systems so that students, faculty, and staff alike could more easily access everything that is special about Lesley;
- Built a strong financial framework which will make stability and other financial goals much easier to achieve; and
- Attracted significant gifts to the University, including gifts to support literacy education and gifts to support educational opportunities for residents of the State of Maine.
Fundamental changes that we have made over the past few years do not always come easily and some stirred controversy. We are grateful to Janet for how she handled these issues –– with admirable strength and a steady focus on the goals we needed to reach.
Janet has left us in an enviable place to continue all the excellent work that she has begun with her exemplary team and to navigate a leadership transition. We have had time to carefully consider what will be best for Lesley because she informed us of her thinking more than a year ago as she contemplated her personal journey and generously agreed to delay her ideal departure date to this June.
Keeping in mind all that our current team has accomplished and what remains to be done, the Board has asked Joanne Kossuth, our Chief Operations Officer, to serve as Lesley’s Interim President beginning July 1st. Joanne brings a wealth of experience in leadership from her positions at other higher education institutions including Boston University, Olin College of Engineering, and Mitchell College. Joanne is also a Lesley alumna. During her time at Lesley, she has shown a remarkable ability to work across the university and to get things done, evidenced for example, by her extraordinary management of our ambitious Campus Plan. She has also been deeply involved with the University’s strategic work over the last six years and will maintain our momentum as we continue to pursue our goals. We welcome Joanne into her new role at Lesley.
We are at a unique time in our university’s history. This requires that we plan carefully. When it is the right time to focus on a presidential search, the Board looks forward to working with the community in that important effort.
For now, let us keep focused on the present, with students, faculty, and staff who have more opportunities and support, a beautiful, modernized campus and a community that is coming together in meaningful ways.
Thank you, Janet, for your vision, leadership, and grace over these last seven years, building Lesley for its future.
We look forward to the work ahead with all of you.
