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 St. Lawrence was the brainchild of Thomas Jefferson Sawyer,
an influential Universalist minister from Massachusetts. He was the first
leader of the institution and, as the chief fund-raiser and a principal
donor, was named president of the corporation, a title that was later changed
to chairman (now chair) of the Board of Trustees. |
 There are those who say, however, that John Stebbins Lee (1859-1868)
was the first president of
St. Lawrence; his title was in fact Principal of the Preparatory Department,
an essentially “remedial” program that gave students the academic
tools to go on to Theological School study. His daughter, Florence Lee Whitman,
is said to haunt 1 Lincoln Street in Canton. |
 Richmond Fisk (1868-72) initiated Tree Holiday, a day
off from classes for students and faculty in an effort to plant trees on
the barren, windy hill upon which the single-building college sat. This
continues as Moving-Up Day, a late-April ceremony recognizing student and
community leadership and achievement. |
 Absalom Graves Gaines (1872-88) taught numerous courses
during which he expounded against evolution. He took his dog to class,
where, Gaines said, “He behaves like a well-bred gentleman.” President
Gaines is credited, in the formative years of the college, with making
it "efficient, and worthy, to win for it loyal support, to establish
its standards, to build it up for a sound tradition." |
 Alpheus Baker Hervey (1888-94) reportedly spent much
of his time peering through a telescope he had mounted in Herring Library,
although he did establish the University’s first endowment. Under
his tenure, there was a significant advance in the numbers of students
from outside the North Country, including recruit Owen D. Young '94, who
would become chairman of the Board of Trustees and leader in business and
government. |
 John Clarence Lee (1896-1899) was the son of John Stebbins
Lee. He introduced such innovations, radical for their time, as elective
courses and honors seminars. He also persuaded the students to form a football
team, but thanks to lack of competition it did not catch on. President
Lee also built the college's first gymnasium. |
 Contrarians might argue that the first president of the true St. Lawrence
University was Almon Gunnison (1899-1914), for he was
the first to preside over both the Theological School and the College of
Letters and Sciences after their respective administrations merged at the
start of his tenure. His was a tenure of much vitalty, with new buildings
erected, much travel across the country to visit alumni, strong fundraising,
and the integration (unti, the 1960s) of Brooklyn Law School as an asset
of the University. |
 Frank Gallup (1916-18) was the first president to use
a telephone at work, but it wasn’t in his office; it belonged to
the dean, and it was on a party line. |
 Richard
Eddy Sykes (1919-35) grew up on a farm near
Canton, and as his first job at St. Lawrence tended the woodstoves in Richardson
Hall when he was 9 years old. He graduated from St. Lawrence in 1883. President
Sykes, in partnership with Chairman of the Board Owen D. Young, led a
transformational period of the University. When he assumed the presidency,
college propertty was worth $500,000; at his retirement, it had grown
to $2.5 million. |
 Laurens Hickok Seelye (1935-40) introduced an innovative,
interdisciplinary freshman seminar focused on world issues and communication
skills. It was the ancestor of today’s First-Year Program. |
 Millard H. Jencks (1940-44), a 1905 St. Lawrence graduate,
presided over a Navy training program on campus; many participants returned
after World War II as students on the GI Bill. |
 Eugene G. Bewkes (1945-63), St. Lawrence’s longest-serving
president, oversaw the period of post-World War II expansion, not only
in enrollment but also in the physical plant and in the curriculum. The
co-author of a widely-used freshman textbook on Western philosophy, he
was also actively involved in numerous community and regional affairs such
as the development of the
St. Lawrence Seaway. His name is honored in one of the University’s science
buildings. |
 Foster S. Brown (1963-69), a 1930 graduate of St. Lawrence,
built stronger ties between “town” and “gown.” Brown
Hall, currently (2008) housing the geology department, memorializes him. |
 Frank P. Piskor (1969-81) further strengthened the relationship
between the University and the local community while carefully modulating
tensions between the two brought on by such controversies as the Vietnam
War. A scholar of wide interests, he was a political scientist who loved
literature and was a personal friend of Robert Frost, whose wife was a
St. Lawrence alumna. He and his wife, Anne, remained in Canton upon his
retirement, becoming involved in a host of civic projects and philanthropies. |
 W. Lawrence “Lawry” Gulick (1981-1987) oversaw
a flowering of the arts on campus, bringing to St. Lawrence such groups
as the esteemed Alexander String Quartet for annual residencies. He was
as comfortable narrating Copeland’s Lincoln Portrait in
a tuxedo with the Albany Symphony Orchestra in the auditorium that would
later be named in his and his wife’s honor as he was wearing lederhosen
and playing his accordion in Canton’s senior citizens’ home. |
 Patti McGill Peterson (1987-1996), the first woman to
lead St. Lawrence, was a strong advocate of international education and
the application of technology in teaching. Study programs in Costa Rica
and India were added during her tenure, and Launders Science Library and
Computing Center was constructed. |
 Daniel
F. Sullivan, the current president of St. Lawrence, began
his duties on July 1, 1996, and was inaugurated on September 21, 1996.
Under President Sullivan’s leadership, St. Lawrence has launched
several major initiatives in academic programs, including expansion of
the faculty and the addition of new major fields and international study
programs; in regional economic development and community relations; and
in facilities renovation, expansion and construction.
New or renovated buildings on campus during his presidency include Newell
Field House and Stafford Fitness Center; the Student Center; Brewer Bookstore;
Steiner Student Residences (townhouses for qualified seniors); Dana Dining
Center; Newell Center for Arts Technology; and the $36.9 million Johnson
Hall of Science, the largest single construction project in St. Lawrence’s
history.
President Sullivan was a founding member of Project Kaleidoscope, a
foundation-funded partnership of liberal arts college presidents, deans
and faculty devoted to reform and improvement of undergraduate science
and mathematics education. His is (2008) chair of the American Association
of Colleges and Universities Board of Trustees. His other professional
service includes membership on advisory panels and committees for the
National Science Foundation, the Consortium on Financing Higher Education,
The College Board, New York State’s Council on Independent Colleges
and Universities and the National Association of Independent Colleges
and Universities, among others.
He has been chairman or president of Pennsylvania's Commission for Independent
Colleges and Universities, the North Coast Athletic Conference and Project
Kaleidoscope, and he is a trustee of New York State’s Commission
on Independent Colleges and Universities and chair of the American Association
of Colleges and Universities. His nationally known scholarly work is
in the fields of sociology of science and medicine, and the sociology
of organizations.
A 1965 mathematics graduate of St. Lawrence, Sullivan played three sports
and was elected to the academic honorary Phi Beta Kappa. He received
the Ph.D. in sociology from Columbia University, where he was an Edward
John Noble Fellow and a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow.
While at Columbia, he also served as an instructor in sociology and research
associate at Barnard College.
Prior to returning to St. Lawrence, Sullivan was from
1986 to 1996 president of Allegheny College, in Meadville,
Pa. From 1971 to 1986, he was at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn.,
in a variety of positions, including assistant professor of sociology
(1971-79), dean of academic development and planning (1979-81), and vice
president for planning and development, secretary of the college and
associate professor of sociology (1981-86). In 1974-76, Sullivan took
a leave from Carleton to be senior research associate and assistant professor
of sociology at Cornell University.
President Sullivan has furthered St. Lawrence’s ties with Canton
by spearheading the Canton Initiative. The Board of Trustees committed
$2 million to the Initiative, to co-invest and allow the University to
act as a catalyst in the enhancement and beautification of the community. |
Presidents of St. Lawrence University
1856-1859: Thomas Jefferson Sawyer
1859-1868: John Stebbins Lee
1868-1872: Richmond Fisk Jr.
1872-1888: Absalom Graves Gaines
1888-1894: Alpheus Baker Hervey
1896-1899: John Clarence Lee
1899-1914: Almon Gunnison
1916-1918: Frank Amner Gallup
1919-1935: Richard Eddy Sykes
1935-1940: Laurens Hickok Seelye
1940-1944: Millard H. Jencks
1945-1963: Eugene Garrett Bewkes
1963-1969: Foster Sargent Brown
1969-1981: Frank Peter Piskor
1981-1987: W. Lawrence Gulick
1987-1996: Patti McGill Peterson
1996- Daniel F. Sullivan
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