Community Message from President Steinmayer: April 22, 2026
Dear Lesley faculty, staff, students, alumni and community members,
When I began here as President of Lesley in 2019, the University had just acquired the beautiful but renovation-needy Episcopal Divinity School campus, higher education had begun to change dramatically and very shortly we were challenged by the worldwide pandemic. It was not an easy time in higher education, and we had much work to do.
We met those challenges and in my seven years at Lesley, we have achieved so much together. We collaborated and created the Strategic Framework, which led us to focus on our strengths in Education, Mental Health and Wellbeing, Art + Design, Liberal Arts & Business, and the Threshold Program. We completed a $100 million campus renovation, using funds from the sale of real estate we no longer needed to create a beautiful and modern environment in which we can all work, learn, and live better. We created the Scholar Partnership Program, connecting students to employer-partners with guaranteed internships when they are admitted to Lesley and the Professional Learning Network, which, together with our Centers, provides a hub of resources and professional learning to support our graduates throughout their careers. We unified our administrative support systems in all areas, making it easier to do everything from class registration to accessing library materials, and strengthened athletics with full-time coaches. We built a strong financial framework for Lesley’s future, using a new approach to analytics and data that will allow us to better shape the future of our treasured University. We attracted significant gifts to support the University’s work, and we launched ways to more deeply support neurodiversity, and the Threshold Programs, and a human-centric approach to artificial intelligence.
Given where we are in this work, how all-consuming it has been in my life and the pull of life goals I have yet to pursue, I shared with the Board over a year ago that I had decided not to renew my contract for another term. Since then, the Board has been working to find the optimal time and way to make a smooth leadership transition that continues and builds on what we all have achieved together. With that plan in place, I am confident our work will continue when I step away on June 30, 2026.
Lesley is a very special place. We educate extraordinary teachers, clinicians, artists and others in the human-centered professions. They go on to impactful careers in the world. Our faculty and staff are dedicated to truly understanding who they are and how to equip them for these meaningful pursuits. As we developed our campus and more recently created additional opportunities for our students to engage with the community, we are grateful for the relationships Lesley has with its wonderful Cambridge neighbors and local professionals.
I am also deeply grateful for the great team of professionals I am blessed to have as colleagues at Lesley and for our Board of Trustees whose wisdom, guidance and skill at operating as a Board has made, and makes, so much possible.
Lesley has done in the last seven years the hard work to build a strong foundation so that its future in developing deeply caring professionals will only grow in impact. I am confident that this community will successfully continue this important path.
Thank you all for being part of Lesley’s journey.
Janet