Leo M. Lambert, president of Elon University, was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by the State University of New York (SUNY) at Geneseo at the university’s annual honors convocation, Nov. 2. The doctorate, which honors Lambert’s accomplishments as an administrator, researcher, author, teacher and innovator, was conferred by Robert L. King, SUNY chancellor.
SUNY Geneseo is one of 13 four-year colleges in the SUNY system. It is the most selective of the State University of New York’s comprehensive colleges, and considered to be SUNY’s Honors College. Selection of honorary degree recipients is made on a statewide basis by the SUNY board of trustees that oversee 62 campuses.
Lambert received a bachelor of arts degree in English at Geneseo in 1976, a master’s degree in education from the University of Vermont in 1978, and a doctorate in education from Syracuse University in 1984. He has devoted his professional life to higher education, serving in positions of increasing responsibility at the University of Vermont, Syracuse University, and the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse. On Jan. 1, 1999, Lambert began his tenure as president of Elon University.
Throughout his career Lambert has been known as an innovator and leader in higher education. In 1979, he was acting director of the University of Vermont’s Living/Learning Center, a unique instructional and residential facility that supported year-long educational programs designed by faculty members or by students. The Center provided faculty the opportunity to design new curricula and test new instructional approaches.
As associate dean of the graduate school at Syracuse University he founded that institution’s Future Professorate program, which prepares graduate students for careers as college professors, and is based on an academic model that puts greater emphasis on teaching and less on research and publication. Considered counter-cultural and highly controversial at its inception, the program Lambert designed now serves as a model for colleges and universities throughout the nation. As a result of his work in this area, Lambert has built a national reputation helping college and universities rethink graduate programs that prepare future college faculty members.
At Wisconsin, Lambert established an undergraduate research program and revitalized international education programs.
As president of Elon University, Lambert has instituted the NewCentury@Elon strategic plan, with a focus on developing the University’s position as a national model of engaged learning. Under Lambert’s direction, this new strategic plan establishes an aggressive set of objectives, challenging students, faculty, and staff to define a new model of excellence built on the college’s traditions of innovation and academic community.
President Lambert has written extensively on university teaching and higher education. He has recently published a chapter in a new volume titled “Academic Leadership” published by Jossey-Bass.