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 large modifications 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 presently provost.
Since becoming a member of Southern New Hampshire’s administration two years in the past, Ryerson has overseen the varsity’s tutorial choices and technique. Final December, LeBlanc instructed 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 group to review these points.
“I’m actually, actually lucky to have the ability to make the transition to the presidency over a protracted time period, with a deep, enduring relationship with the present president,” Ryerson stated.
She and LeBlanc have substantial overlap time, she stated, and he or she is spending these months digging deep with the long-time president concerning the tutorial tradition he has constructed over twenty years.
Ryerson additionally plans to attract on her personal expertise as a pacesetter within the larger schooling and philanthropy sectors when she takes the helm.
“With Lisa we get the most effective of each worlds,” LeBlanc stated, “a confirmed chief with an important monitor document and somebody who is aware of SNHU inside and outside.”
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 instances navigating the school by means of monetary troubles. In the end, she steered the school by means of the tough resolution in 2004 to just accept males.
“She tried to maintain Wells a girls’s faculty,” stated Meredith VanDuyne, who labored as Ryerson’s assistant at Wells. “The fact of {the marketplace} took maintain and he or she slowly started to think about broader methods, together with coeducation, that had helped so many different faculties.”
Ryerson’s method throughout that interval is typical of her management model, stated VanDuyne, who’s now assistant head of faculty for institutional development on the Flint Hill Faculty, a non-public Okay-12 college in Virginia.
In making the choice to just accept males at Wells, VanDuyne stated, Ryerson was appearing as “steward of an establishment cared for by so many” and a significant participant within the financial system of Aurora.
“She was fiercely decided to chart a course ahead,” VanDuyne stated.
Nonetheless, Ryerson took warmth for opening the school 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 a long time.
A Wells alumna herself, Ryerson graduated in 1981 with a bachelor’s diploma in English after which earned a grasp’s diploma in schooling 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 turned vp of the school. In 1995, with no formal search, she was appointed faculty president.
“She knew how a lot the school wanted constant management, and he or she was singularly dedicated to Wells,” stated VanDuyne, who can also be an alumna of the school.
In 2013, Ryerson left Wells, and better ed, to function president of the AARP Basis, the charitable affiliate of AARP.
Throughout the pandemic lockdown, when public consideration centered 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 bettering the lives of others that impressed Basis workers to do their finest work,” stated 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 handle revenue, housing and starvation points skilled by seniors. College students, she stated, additionally wrestle 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 stated. Coming to grasp the wants of older adults knowledgeable how she “thinks concerning the significance of connection,” she stated.
Southern New Hampshire prides itself on supporting college students who may in any other case really feel shut out of upper schooling. College students can select to enroll in both on-line or in-person programs taught each historically and utilizing competency-based schooling, the place they’ll skip elements of a course in the event that they show mastery of the fabric.
The college touts this method as a extra cheap faculty expertise than the normal one. For the various adults with some faculty however no diploma, packages like this are enticing.
Southern New Hampshire additionally presents a tailor-made method to scholar advising, Ryerson stated. Advisors observe college students by means of their time at Southern New Hampshire to assist determine their tutorial targets and join them with wanted helps to allow them to full their levels.
“That’s what actual fairness is,” she stated. “You open up accessibility for schooling, however it’s the attainment that’s so essential.”
As president, Ryerson stated 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 a substitute of time for all programs. This new “one competency, one credit score” framework, Ryerson stated, will make it simpler for college kids to get credit score for prior studying — even in programs that aren’t within the competency-based schooling catalog.
She stated she’ll additionally proceed to prioritize workforce improvement initiatives.
Southern New Hampshire college students, she stated, might not all be bodily situated on the campus in northern Manchester, however all of them dwell, be taught and work in locations they care about. It’s doubtless that they’re in faculty to get higher jobs within the communities the place they dwell.
That, Ryerson stated, implies that Southern New Hampshire must know what kinds of jobs are going to be obtainable in these locales.
“Our learners have locations which are essential to them,” she stated, “and so they need to be essential to us, in faculties and universities, too.”
She stated she’ll proceed to accomplice with advisory councils that assist the varsity keep on high of employment tendencies, together with the function of AI in each studying and careers. When constructing out programs, majors and packages, she stated, the varsity will embrace expertise and competencies that align with obtainable jobs.
“We would like our learners to be very clear about what they’ll be capable of do with their studying,” she stated.
