Message from the Chair of the LVC Board of Trustees

President Stephen MacDonald has announced his intention to retire from the College effective June 30, 2012, next year. Dr. MacDonald has been a strong and steady president for the past seven years and a dedicated Vice President for Academic Affairs/Dean of the Faculty for six years prior. He has earned our respect for his deep concern for the entire LVC community; his focus on the future; and, of course, his unfailing good humor. With great appreciation and admiration, we congratulate Dr. MacDonald for establishing LVC as a vibrant, regional Liberal Arts College poised to grow—and ‘grow-well’ into the future.

His tenure as president, and earlier as dean, has been marked by numerous accomplishments:

  • the completion of the “Great Expectations” Campaign which raised $55,400,000;
  • a total rebuilding of the Neidig-Garber Science Center;
  • the transformation of Lynch Memorial Hall into an academic center;
  • the construction of the Stanson residence hall;
  • the complete renovation of the Mund College Center (to be completed next year);
  • restoring the exterior of the Humanities Center/Administration Building:
  • the graduation in 2006 of our first class of Doctors of Physical Therapy;
  • the completion of one strategic plan (in 2009) and the adoption of another (through 2016);
  • addition of two new sports programs (men’s and women’s lacrosse) in 2010;
  • the inauguration of the First Year Seminars, and the Digital Communications program;
  • and perhaps most notable, the successful navigation with minimal institutional damage of the Great Recession in the past few years.
President MacDonald reminds us that much remains to be done. He is leading the effort to complete the College’s decennial reaccreditation by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, and ensuring that the Mund College Center renovation is completed on time and within the budget. As he said earlier today to a gathering of faculty and staff, “There is a busy year ahead to prepare the College for the transition to the leadership of its next president. The College is well positioned for this change; we can face this transition with confidence.”

You may be asking, “Where do we go from here?” Dr. MacDonald has been candid with the Board of Trustees about his retirement plans. At the Board’s spring retreat earlier this month initial guidelines for a national search for the next LVC President were developed. The Trustees appointed their colleague, Attorney Elyse Rogers ’76 to chair the Presidential Search Committee. AGB Search, a national higher education search firm, has been engaged to assist the committee. The committee will include faculty, administrative staff, the President of Student Government, and Trustee representatives. Many of the committee members are alumni of the College.

A new presidential search website is on the College’s home page, at www.lvc.edu. Please check the site frequently for news about the search as the committee’s work progresses.

Over the next year there will be opportunities to celebrate Steve’s successes and offer our best wishes to him and his wife, Mary Warner, for a well-deserved and energetic retirement. We thank them for sharing their lives and hearts, and their talents and service with all of us. They both will always be valuable members of the LVC family.

During the next year, we will be faithful to the future as we continue to work alongside President MacDonald, building and supporting the vibrancy that will assure a most successful presidential transition for Lebanon Valley College and the entire LVC community.

Sincerely,

Lynn Garrett Phillips ’68
Chair, Lebanon Valley College Board of Trustees