Office of the President

Meet President L. Jay Lemons

Jay Lemons has been president of Susquehanna University, a national liberal arts college enrolling approximately 2,000 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 1,959 students in fall 2007, who are also among the strongest in the school's history.

Dr. 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. In 2001 he was recognized by the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education with its distinguished alumnus award and in 2002 Nebraska Wesleyan University conferred an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree upon Dr. Lemons.

As assistant to presidents Robert M. O'Neil and John T. Casteen III at the University of Virginia from 1989 to 1991, Dr. 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 and half year tenure.

Dr. Lemons serves as the chair of the board of directors of the Greater Susquehanna Valley Chamber of Commerce and is a member of the board of directors for the United Way of Central Pennsylvania and the Selinsgrove Area Youth Foundation. He is also a member of Selinsgrove Rotary. He chairs the boards of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Campus Compact and the ELCA Council of Presidents. Dr. Lemons has served for many years as a periodic report reviewer for the Middle States Association. In January 2008, he completed a term of service on the board of the Council of Independent Colleges, where he served in many capacities including service as the chair of its nominating committee. Dr. Lemons formerly served as an executive committee member of the Associated New American Colleges and the Lutheran Educational Conference of North America and as a member of the Commission on Leadership and Institutional Effectiveness of the American Council on Education.

He has been married to Marsha Schone Lemons since 1984 and they are the parents of four children: Olivia, age 15; Maggie, age 13; Thomas, age 11; and Meredith, age 8.