By Mary Beth Roach
Since becoming president of LeMoyne College, Linda LeMura has taken the school to new heights. (Please forgive the pun, since LeMoyne’s nickname is “The Heights.)
She is its longest-serving president at the college and became a trailblazer in 2014, as the first lay female president of a Jesuit college in the U.S. Now, there are 10 women serving in those posts at Jesuit institutions.
She has navigated LeMoyne through daunting challenges and has positioned it to manage the ever-changing world of higher education. Her partnerships with different entities and municipalities have brought LeMoyne more regional and national attention. Under her tenure, the school has seen significant growth, both academically and in terms of endowments.
Among her accomplishments: the $100 million Always Forward campaign, the largest in college history; the reclassification from DII to DI intercollegiate athletics, which helps in recruitment and provides additional revenue streams; and substantial naming gifts to the school, increasing the financial resources for both faculty and students.
In addition, several new programs have been introduced, including the first two doctoral programs, an Ed.D. in executive leadership and a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree. Several other programs are being offered to meet the needs of Micron, including a new bachelor’s degree in applied physics. And more than 20 endowed professorships, chairs and faculty fellowships have been added.
She also sees the efforts in getting the college through the COVID-19 pandemic as one of her achievements.
“Weathering the COVID pandemic in the way that we did was a significant accomplishment,” she said in an email statement.
“Together, we had to pivot and reposition how we taught and learned, lived both on campus and at home and interacted with each other literally every day to make it through a truly unprecedented event,” she said.
Her career in education stems from her long love of learning and the thrill of discovery.
“As I traveled on my educational journey that included earning a doctorate in applied physiology, it became clear that higher education was to be my vocation,” she said.
A native Syracusan, LeMura earned her bachelor’s degree from Niagara and both her master’s and doctoral degrees from Syracuse University. From 1987 to 2003, she was at the Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, serving as a professor, research scientist, a graduate program director and an interim associate dean of the college’s School of Arts and Sciences.
And although she grew up about five miles from LeMoyne, she said she wasn’t too familiar with the school before coming to the campus in 2003 as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Four years later, she became provost and vice president for academic affairs. And in 2014, she was named president.
“While I thoroughly enjoyed being a professor, after I was selected to be LeMoyne’s dean of arts and sciences in 2003, I realized that being an administrator was something I both loved and was successful in supporting faculty and students,” she explained.
And being at LeMoyne, she said, she has come to “truly love LeMoyne and our Catholic and Jesuit mission, which frames everything we do as an institution.”
She tries to lead by example and she said she is “constantly pushing the envelope — and encouraging our faculty, staff and others — to do the same.”
“Whether it’s seeking out academic partnership with other institutions, trying something new in the way we recruit students or taking a novel approach to how alumni support LeMoyne, we are always looking at how we can do things differently. The days of doing the same old thing just because that’s how it’s always been done are long behind us,” she said.
This mindset guides her as she meets the changes that LeMoyne — and all institutions of higher learning — face. She pointed out some of the issues: a lower number of college-aged young women and men in the Northeast, which affects recruitment; and recent actions by the federal government that increase financial pressures and impact recruitment and retention of international students.
Regionally, Micron’s move to Central New York changes the area’s economic landscape, creating more jobs in engineering, analytics, human resources, as well as what she called “support professions” (health care and education for example) needed to accommodate the expected influx of individuals coming to the area.
And while the uncertainty of it can be overwhelming, LeMura sees opportunity.
“I argue that with this uncertainty, it is also a time of great growth and development for those colleges that are able to seize on new realities and developing areas, such as AI and other technology. LeMoyne is the perfect size to take on these challenges and benefit from them,” she said. “Like Le Moyne, I pride myself on being nimble and able to pivot to react and adjust as necessary. There will always be unknowns and unforeseen circumstances that require institutions to take a step back, re-evaluate and set a new course of action. In Jesuit vernacular, this process is known as discernment and it’s a tried-and-true process that has served higher education well for nearly 500 years.”
And with LeMoyne board of trustees renewing LeMura’s contract to June of 2028, she is looking ahead, focusing on the college’s success.
“Roughly 96% of our students are either working or in graduate school one year after graduating from the college. That’s a remarkable number and is a testament about what we do as an institution, the expertise of our faculty and the drive and dedication of our students.”
Read about more Women in Education:
• Rhonda Zajac: Women’s Role in Education Shifts to Leading
• Agatha Awuah: Educator is considered the architect behind OCC’s culture of evidence-based decision-making
• Sarah Gaffney: A product of the SUNY system, she has overseen a steady growth in enrollment at OCC
• Erica Hall: Program director is involved in developing curriculum, enrollment, community awareness and forming partnerships
• Jennifer King-Reese: Educator is proud of fostering greater communication among the district’s schools and employees
• Jennifer Nichols: From student to dean, administrator is settling into new position
• Kirsten Nielsen: As the founder of the physical therapist assistant program, she now serves as both its director and an instructor
• Amanda Petrie: P-TECH principal is following in her grandmother’s footsteps
• Lindi Quackenbush: Her father once observed she had more degrees than a thermometer
• Jennifer L. Ross: Interim dean was once told that she couldn’t do advanced math because she was a girl
• Donna Runner: Her mother’s commitment to education spurred superintendent’s success
• Naomi Ryfun: A love of teaching: A journey from biochemistry to education
