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Saint Michael’s College Hires an Interim President | Education | Seven Days
A former Pennsylvania college executive has been chosen to serve as interim president of Saint Michael’s College. Current president Lorraine Sterritt has announced that she will retire June 30.
Lewis Thayne, who most recently worked as president of Lebanon Valley College in Pennsylvania, has a doctorate in comparative literature from Princeton University and experience in fundraising. He is expected to serve for six months. In an interview, Thayne said trustees have asked him to help raise money and improve enrollment during his tenure.
Thayne is not a candidate for the permanent president job, and St. Mike’s has launched a search for Sterritt’s replacement. He’ll serve until that person is hired.
Thayne said there are enrollment and revenue problems at St. Mike’s and they’re similar to those he encountered at Lebanon Valley, where he worked from 2012 to 2020. Registrations at small liberal arts colleges have fallen nationwide in the past few years, and several small colleges in Vermont have closed.
“I think I understand the challenges and the problems,” Thayne said. “They are serious but solvable.”
On its website, St. Mike’s says it has about 1,200 undergraduate students, along with 190 graduate students and 106 full-time faculty members. Students come from 15 states and 21 countries, the website says. Spokesperson Elizabeth Murray said there were no staff members available to provide the exact number of students who attended the college last year, but Murray said enrollment was expected to rise 20 percent in the coming academic year.
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Thayne was hired through an agency called the Registry, which helps colleges find interim leaders. He’s been listed with the agency since 2020 but said the St. Mike’s position was the first to interest him.
“St. Michael’s is a very fine liberal arts college. It has a strong academic reputation and faculty,” he said. “I’m a good match.”
Thayne said he also worked in fundraising at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., as well as Mount Holyoke, Bucknell University, and Columbia University. He starts at St. Mike’s on July 1 and said he and his wife, Dorry, an artist, will live in the president’s house on the 440-acre campus in Colchester.
St. Mike’s competes in a crowded college market and is sometimes overshadowed by the much larger University of Vermont and the hard-charging Champlain College, a liberal arts institution that has introduced several innovative new programs and internships in recent years.
But St. Mike’s, founded in 1904, is also seeking to adapt. It’s introducing a new cybersecurity major in the coming semester and has a coterie of loyal alumni. Local developers Ernie Pomerleau and Eric Farrell both graduated from there, as did IDX Systems cofounder Richard Tarrant. Dave Stever, a longtime Ben & Jerry’s employee who was recently elevated to CEO of the ice cream company, got a master’s degree there.
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Many St. Mike’s alums came from out of state, then stayed in Vermont. Matt Byrne, who lives in Charlotte, graduated in 2002 and now works as a sales operation manager for a local company. Byrne, a former college baseball player who grew up in Chelmsford, Mass., said he would like to see his alma mater invest more money in its athletics programs and facilities so it can compete more effectively against other small liberal arts colleges.
“It has a huge effect on these smaller schools,” Byrne said of strong athletics programs. “With the ones that have done it right, the reputation gets out, and people want to go there.”
Mike Reiderer of Granville met his wife at St. Mike’s; both graduated in 1993. One of the couple’s sons graduated from there this year, and another is headed back for his sophomore year.
“We’re really happy with the education the kids are receiving and the extra support that St. Mike’s is providing — financial, academic and social,” said Reiderer, who grew up in Merrick, N.Y., and works in Randolph for a local transit agency. “The students who are coming in are swarmed by advisers who help them acclimate to campus.”
Reiderer hopes the new president will do something to address enrollment. His younger son’s first-year class had just 200 students, Reiderer said.
“I believe that class number has been more in the 300 or 400 range historically,” Reiderer said. “I’d love to see those numbers get back up.”
