Susquehanna President Jay Lemons
2005 Commencement Speaker

The former chancellor at The University of Virginia's College at Wise, Jay Lemons has been president of Susquehanna University, a national liberal arts college enrolling approximately 1,900 undergraduates, since February 2001. He has led the university in development of a new strategic plan emphasizing increased intellectual engagement and stronger community as the institution also successfully underwent a 2004 ten-year accreditation review by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. He has guided enrollment growth from 1,682 students in 2000 to a record 1,930 students in fall 2004, who are also among the strongest in the school’s history.

Lemons is deeply committed to a broad-based, liberal arts education and believes there is no better preparation for civic leadership than through the liberal arts experience. He is an enthusiastic advocate of community service and a proponent of partnerships between the University and elementary and secondary schools, particularly those that will result in greater student diversity on campus. Other topics of particular interest are the continuing affordability of college and collaborative approaches to planning and decision-making. He regularly invites Susquehanna students to join him for lunch to share views and perspectives about their college experience.

A native of Scottsbluff, Nebraska, he earned a B.A. in philosophy and a B.S. in physical education and health education, both with teacher certification, from Nebraska Wesleyan University in 1983. He earned his M.Ed. in educational psychology and college student development from the University of Nebraska in 1985. Following service as an area coordinator in the Department of Student Affairs at Texas A&M University, he began doctoral studies at the Center for the Study of Higher Education in the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education. He also had a supporting academic concentration in management through the Darden Graduate School of Business. He received his Ph.D. in higher education administration in 1991.

As assistant to presidents Robert M. O’Neil and John T. Casteen III at the University of Virginia from 1989 to 1991, Lemons oversaw major projects on assignment from the president and served as the liaison to three major units of the university. In 1992, President Casteen asked him to undertake a short-term assignment as chancellor of the university’s liberal arts college, now known as The University of Virginia’s College at Wise, a selective, public, liberal arts college in southwestern Virginia. That “short-term” assignment evolved into an eight-year tenure.

Lemons serves as a member of the board of directors of the Greater Susquehanna Valley Chamber of Commerce, Sunbury Community Hospital, United Way of Central Pennsylvania and the Selinsgrove Area Youth Foundation. He is also a member of Selinsgrove Rotary. He is a member of the board of Pennsylvania Campus Compact and the Lutheran Educational Conference of North America; an executive committee member of the Associated New American Colleges; chairs the Outreach Committee of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities; is a member of the Commission on Leadership and Institutional Effectiveness of the American Council on Education; a member of the Executive Committee and secretary/treasurer of the Middle Atlantic Conference; a member of the Council of Independent Colleges, and a periodic report reviewer for the Middle States Association.

Click here for the full text of Mr. Lemons' speech.