SYRACUSE — The Le Moyne College board of trustees on Thursday elected Linda LeMura as the school’s 14th president, and on Friday the college introduced her to the public.
LeMura, who currently serves as Le Moyne’s provost and vice president for academic affairs, will succeed Frederick Pestello as president.
Le Moyne on March 21 announced Pestello will leave the school on June 30 to assume the same position at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Mo.
With the appointment, LeMura becomes “the first lay female leader at a Jesuit institution in the world,” Le Moyne said in a news release.
Le Moyne introduced LeMura as its president-elect during an event Friday morning at the school’s Panasci Family Chapel.
“It is a tremendous honor, but it’s simultaneously a deeply humbling moment for me to be selected as president of this extraordinary college,” LeMura said to begin her remarks.
In speaking with reporters afterward, LeMura discussed her vision for the school once she assumes the president’s role on July 1.
“You’ll see an increased emphasis on internationalization and globalization as the world economy becomes more complex and interconnected,” she said.
LeMura also wants to focus on partnerships with Jesuit institutions of higher learning around the nation and with neighboring colleges and universities in Central New York, she added.
LeMura has served in her current role at Le Moyne since 2007 and also as the school’s dean of arts and sciences when she joined Le Moyne in 2003.
Prior to her arrival at Le Moyne, LeMura worked in several roles at Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania between 1992 and 2003, Le Moyne said.
Her field of research and expertise is pediatric obesity, pediatric applied physiology, lipid metabolism, and energy metabolism, according to Le Moyne. She has taught applied physiology, anatomy and physiology, bioethics, and the biology of aging.
LeMura is married to Lawrence Tanner, a professor of natural-systems science at Le Moyne. The couple has a daughter, Emily, who is a sophomore at Fordham University, according to Le Moyne.
LeMura, a Syracuse native, is a graduate of Bishop Grimes High School. From there, she earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and education from Niagara University, and master’s and doctoral degrees in applied physiology from Syracuse University, according to Le Moyne.
She also noted her parents came to the U.S. from Sicily in 1950.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com