CANTON — The St. Lawrence University board of trustees “in the near future” will appoint a committee to begin a search for the school’s next president. That committee will begin its work “this fall.” St. Lawrence University President William L. Fox on Aug. 4 announced his plan to retire on June 30, 2021, after 12 […]
CANTON — The St. Lawrence University board of trustees “in the near future” will appoint a committee to begin a search for the school’s next president.
That committee will begin its work “this fall.”
St. Lawrence University President William L. Fox on Aug. 4 announced his plan to retire on June 30, 2021, after 12 years at the helm of his undergraduate alma mater.
“Bill Fox’s inspiring leadership for more than a decade deserves the highest praise,” Michael Ranger, chairman of the St. Lawrence University board of trustees, said in a release. “While we have known for some time that Bill intended to retire in 2021, it doesn’t make this moment any easier. Bill’s legacy is one that will be felt by every future generation of Laurentians.”
Under his leadership, St. Lawrence’s endowment has grown nearly 70 percent to about $320 million, in addition to producing nearly $140 million in endowment income, the university said. He has led the university to “record” fundraising results as the Campaign for Every Laurentian has raised more than 80 percent of its $225 million goal. The campaign will continue to be a priority during his final year.
During Fox’s tenure, St. Lawrence’s sprawling campus grew to include new buildings and renovated historical spaces spanning academics, athletics, and the arts. This effort included Kirk Douglas Hall, Appleton Arena, the Center for Student Achievement, Peterson-Kermani Performance Hall, Herring-Cole Hall, Owen D. Young Library, the Richard F. Brush ‘52 University Quad, and the Class of 1975 Promenade.
The university also notes that the community will also be saying goodbye to one of its “strongest supporters” in Lynn Fox.
As presidential spouse, she brought “decades of communications experience working at the highest levels” of Washington, D.C., public policy, and strategic leadership, and found ways to leverage her professional expertise into collaborations with alumni, parents, faculty, and students at St. Lawrence.
She has worked with trustees on a program of outreach to alumnae; co-teaches a course about the Federal Reserve; and is a founding board member of the North Country Women’s Leadership Initiative, a partnership among four universities in Northern New York.
“The invitation to serve St. Lawrence is the greatest honor of my life,” William Fox wrote in his message to the community. “There is every reason, whether the lines are difficult or pleasant, for us to believe together that this year, this year, can be the best of the many Lynn and I have shared with you.”
Fox became the 18th president and senior lecturer in the history of his undergraduate alma mater on July 1, 2009, after serving as president and senior lecturer in philosophy, religion, and history at Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Missouri between 2003 and 2009.
In the previous five years, Fox was special assistant to the president at Goucher College in Towson, Maryland.
Earlier in his career, he served as a faculty member at Claremont School of Theology in California; Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland; and Howard University in Washington, D.C.