Regardless of Paul LeBlanc’s transformative function in reshaping Southern New Hampshire College into one of many nation’s thriving hybrid “mega-universities,” college students won’t discover any massive adjustments when he steps down on the finish of June.
LeBlanc, who has led Southern New Hampshire as president for 20 years, constructed a small, sleepy campus of two,500 college students into a web based large serving greater than 200,000 college students. Upon leaving, he’ll hand the reins to Lisa Marsh Ryerson, who’s at the moment provost.
Since becoming a member of Southern New Hampshire’s administration two years in the past, Ryerson has overseen the college’s tutorial choices and technique. Final December, LeBlanc advised the podcast “Reimagining the Way forward for Increased Schooling” that he was turning over a lot of his duties to Ryerson, as he turned his consideration to the function of AI in larger ed and the workforce. LeBlanc will start a year-long sabbatical on July 1, nonetheless employed by Southern New Hampshire College, to work with a staff to check these points.
“I’m actually, actually lucky to have the ability to make the transition to the presidency over a protracted time frame, with a deep, enduring relationship with the present president,” Ryerson mentioned.
She and LeBlanc have substantial overlap time, she mentioned, and he or she is spending these months digging deep with the long-time president concerning the tutorial tradition he has constructed over 20 years.
Ryerson additionally plans to attract on her personal expertise as a pacesetter within the larger training and philanthropy sectors when she takes the helm.
“With Lisa we get the most effective of each worlds,” LeBlanc mentioned, “a confirmed chief with a terrific monitor document and somebody who is aware of SNHU in and out.”
Who Is Lisa Marsh Ryerson?
Ryerson’s profession in larger ed administration goes again to 1995, when she assumed the function of president of Wells Faculty in Aurora, New York. Simply final month, Wells Faculty introduced that it was closing completely after the Class of 2024 graduation.
She led Wells for 18 years, at occasions navigating the faculty by means of monetary troubles. Finally, she steered the faculty by means of the troublesome determination in 2004 to simply accept males.
“She tried to maintain Wells a girls’s faculty,” mentioned Meredith VanDuyne, who labored as Ryerson’s assistant at Wells. “The truth of {the marketplace} took maintain and he or she slowly started to contemplate broader methods, together with coeducation, that had helped so many different schools.”
Ryerson’s method throughout that interval is typical of her management type, mentioned VanDuyne, who’s now assistant head of college for institutional development on the Flint Hill College, a non-public Ok-12 college in Virginia.
In making the choice to simply accept males at Wells, VanDuyne mentioned, Ryerson was appearing as “steward of an establishment cared for by so many” and a significant participant within the economic system of Aurora.
“She was fiercely decided to chart a course ahead,” VanDuyne mentioned.
Nonetheless, Ryerson took warmth for opening the faculty to males.
College students protested previous to, throughout and after the choice, VanDuyne recalled. Some college students even filed a lawsuit — ultimately dropped — alleging breach of contract. After a painful transition, nonetheless, the choice bore fruit: Enrollment elevated to 550 college students in 2007, its largest headcount in many years.
A Wells alumna herself, Ryerson graduated in 1981 with a bachelor’s diploma in English after which earned a grasp’s diploma in training and literacy from the State College of New York at Cortland.
In 1984, she took a job within the Wells Faculty admissions workplace and was promoted to dean of scholars in 1991. Three years later she grew to become vice chairman of the faculty. In 1995, with no formal search, she was appointed faculty president.
“She knew how a lot the faculty wanted constant management, and he or she was singularly dedicated to Wells,” mentioned VanDuyne, who can also be an alumna of the faculty.
In 2013, Ryerson left Wells, and better ed, to function president of the AARP Basis, the charitable affiliate of AARP.
In the course of the pandemic lockdown, when public consideration targeted on the psychological well being dangers of social isolation, Ryerson spoke and printed concerning the elevated risks of loneliness for older adults. She launched initiatives to fight senior isolation, together with Connect2Affect, which hyperlinks seniors with volunteer and well being organizations.
“Lisa demonstrated an infectious ardour for enhancing the lives of others that impressed Basis workers to do their finest work,” mentioned AARP CEO Jo Ann Jenkins.
Ryerson’s plans for Southern New Hampshire
Ryerson sees a connection between the work she did at AARP and her function at Southern New Hampshire. At AARP she helped create initiatives to deal with earnings, housing and starvation points skilled by seniors. College students, she mentioned, additionally battle with a few of these points.
“We all know that our learners, and our individuals who work right here, want entry to all of the helps that promote strong well-being,” she mentioned. Coming to grasp the wants of older adults knowledgeable how she “thinks concerning the significance of connection,” she mentioned.
Southern New Hampshire prides itself on supporting college students who may in any other case really feel shut out of upper training. College students can select to enroll in both on-line or in-person programs taught each historically and utilizing competency-based training, the place they will skip elements of a course in the event that they exhibit mastery of the fabric.
The college touts this method as a extra cheap faculty expertise than the normal one. For the numerous adults with some faculty however no diploma, packages like this are enticing.
Southern New Hampshire additionally presents a tailor-made method to pupil advising, Ryerson mentioned. Advisors observe college students by means of their time at Southern New Hampshire to assist establish their tutorial targets and join them with wanted helps to allow them to full their levels.
“That’s what actual fairness is,” she mentioned. “You open up accessibility for training, nevertheless it’s the attainment that’s so essential.”
As president, Ryerson mentioned she’s going to proceed to construct out initiatives she started as provost.
One will standardize the credit related to Southern New Hampshire programs, ultimately assigning credit for confirmed competencies as an alternative of time for all programs. This new “one competency, one credit score” framework, Ryerson mentioned, will make it simpler for college students to get credit score for prior studying — even in programs that aren’t within the competency-based training catalog.
She mentioned she’ll additionally proceed to prioritize workforce growth initiatives.
Southern New Hampshire college students, she mentioned, might not all be bodily positioned on the campus in northern Manchester, however all of them reside, be taught and work in locations they care about. It’s probably that they’re in faculty to get higher jobs within the communities the place they reside.
That, Ryerson mentioned, signifies that Southern New Hampshire must know what kinds of jobs are going to be accessible in these locales.
“Our learners have locations which can be essential to them,” she mentioned, “they usually must be essential to us, in schools and universities, too.”
She mentioned she’ll proceed to associate with advisory councils that assist the college keep on high of employment developments, together with the function of AI in each studying and careers. When constructing out programs, majors and packages, she mentioned, the college will embrace expertise and competencies that align with accessible jobs.
“We wish our learners to be very clear about what they’ll be capable to do with their studying,” she mentioned.
