A List
2/21/07

COMMITTEE SELECTS VALERIE LEHR AS NEXT SLU DEAN

CANTON - St. Lawrence University President Daniel F. Sullivan announced today that the search committee has recommended and he has invited Professor of Government and Coordinator of Gender Studies Valerie D. Lehr to become vice president of the University and dean of academic affairs. The University's Board of Trustees is expected to formally make the appointment when it meets Saturday, February 24.

February 24: The Board of Trustees ratified the recommendation in a unanimous vote of support.

Lehr joined the St. Lawrence faculty in 1988. She is a graduate of New College of the University of South Florida, with a master's degree and Ph.D. from the University of Maryland at College Park. Her area of research is the intersection of political theory, feminist theory, and gay/lesbian/queer political activism. She is the author of the book Queer Family Values: Debunking the Myth of the Nuclear Family, published by Temple University Press in 1999.

Lehr teaches courses focused on gender and politics in the U.S.; the family and politics in the U.S.; gay and lesbian politics; welfare policy in the U.S.; and feminist political theory. In 1996, she won the Louis and Frances Maslow Award at St. Lawrence, which goes to the faculty member who has shown "the most interest in and understanding of the education and welfare of the student body as a whole."

From 1997 to 2001, she served as the associate dean of the first year, and she has been involved in a number of grant-funded projects, including the Women and Scientific Literacy project, sponsored by the Association of American Colleges and Universities, and the Oral Communication project, sponsored by the Hewlett Foundation.

Recent scholarly articles by Lehr include "Relationship Rights for a Queer Society," published in Child, Family, and State, in 2002 and "Framing an Alternative Rhetoric: How 'Family Values' Harms the Left," published in Fundamental Differences: Feminists Challenge the Right, in 2003.

Lehr will replace Vice President of the University and Dean of Academic Affairs Grant H. Cornwell '79, who will begin serving as the president of the College of Wooster in July.

-30-

More information: Valerie Lehr's Web site