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11/20/08

William L. Fox Selected As President of St. Lawrence University

CANTON - St. Lawrence University's 18th president will be Class of 1975 graduate William L. Fox, who has been president of Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Missouri, since 2003. He will assume the post July 1, 2009, when President Daniel F. Sullivan retires.

The announcement was made today by Board of Trustees Chair Donald K. Rose.

Fox earned his St. Lawrence degree in history, a Master of Divinity degree from Harvard University in 1978, and the Ph.D. in American religious history from George Washington University in 1989. Fox has written and published on a variety of topics, including two books on the history of American Freemasons, the award-winning Valley of the Craftsmen (2001) and Lodge of the Double-Headed Eagle: Two Centuries of Scottish Rite Freemasonry (1999). His first book was a study of the Harvard theologian Willard L. Sperry (1991).

Rose stated that Fox is "an excellent match with the identified priorities of the University and the attributes we identified as desirable in our next president. Bill's status as an involved graduate of St. Lawrence provides him with a considered understanding of St. Lawrence's history and traditions as well as its contemporary successes and challenges. He has accomplished significant scholarly work during his career, which has included teaching, higher education administration, ministry and community service. At Culver-Stockton, Bill has demonstrated leadership in successfully bringing his campus out of a major crisis, when a devastating tornado struck campus in the first days of his presidency. He and Lynn led the community to physically rebuild and financially remodel Culver-Stockton. He has led the faculty in a new and innovative vision of the curriculum and has helped attract the resources that have moved Culver-Stockton up significantly in the regional college rankings. Such fundamental transformation has occurred in an atmosphere of mutual respect and admiration between the Foxes and the Culver-Stockton community. Over the past five years, the Foxes have developed a solid bond with their current small town community, a bond they hope to establish quickly with the Canton, New York, community. Finally, but very importantly, Bill has a considerate style of management that will serve the St. Lawrence community very well."

From 1999 to 2003, Fox was a senior administrator at Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland. In addition to supporting three presidents as special assistant, he functioned as a senior advancement officer; worked in academic affairs as associate dean for graduate and professional programs; and led the enrollment management division to two record-setting years. During his years at Goucher, he coordinated college strategic planning; was the administrative liaison to the Board of Trustees; and established a 40-member national board of visitors.

Ordained to the ministry in 1978 (currently affiliated with both the Unitarian Universalist Association and the United Church of Christ), Fox has led churches in metropolitan Boston, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. His faculty experience includes an appointment at Howard University School of Divinity; service as associate professor of philosophy and history at Montgomery College in Maryland; and teaching history at Goucher. Fox is currently senior lecturer in philosophy, religion and history at Culver-Stockton, a private, residential, coeducational college of about 850 students, founded in 1853. While leading a church in California, he was adjunct professor of church history at the Claremont School of Theology and president of the Clinebell Institute, a counseling and training center for eastern Los Angeles County.

"In all my years and roles of institutional service and leadership, a week never passes without St. Lawrence having influenced or inspired my work in some highly personal way," said Fox. "Now there's an opportunity for me to come home and give something back, to make a difference. It's an exciting time to be at St. Lawrence; the momentum is not only transparent, it's transcendent. I count on all Laurentians from all across the decades to join Lynn and me in this important work."

Fox is married to Lynn Smith Fox, a senior adviser to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, who works remotely and will continue in that professional role. Their daughter Hallie is a student at Middlebury College.

Sullivan, a 1965 graduate of St. Lawrence who has been president since 1996, announced in 2007 his plans to retire in June 2009. During his tenure, the University has enriched the academic experience with seven new majors and 24 new faculty positions; expanded student-faculty research; added four new programs for international study; invested over $200 million in new or renovated facilities to support student achievement; completed one comprehensive fund-raising campaign, raising $132.2 million, exceeding goal; and launched Momentum St. Lawrence, which will raise $200 million by December 31, 2010. Applications for admission to the University have doubled in the last decade, reaching over 5,400 applications for the Class 2012 and reducing the acceptance rate to 33 percent.

St. Lawrence enrolls about 2,200 students who study in 35 major programs.

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More: Presidential Search Web site