Former Lyndon State College president Carol Moore will serve as Burlington College’s new interim president for the next 18 months, the board of trustees announced Friday after a board meeting.
The college also announced Friday that the board has extended for a second time the deadline to sign a purchase agreement with real estate developer Eric Farrell, who is set to buy 25 acres of the college’s 32-acre waterfront campus for $7.5 million. The new expected signing date is Tuesday.
Moore has met with students, faculty and staff in a town hall meeting, according to a press release from the board, sent Friday morning.
Moore, 68, left Lyndon State in 2011. In a brief phone interview Friday she said she has the skills to help the college from drowning in debt. The school is burdened by unpaid bills and mortgage payments that mushroomed after the school’s former president Jane O’Meara Sanders in 2010 purchased the lakefront campus from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington.
Moore said she took the job after working at five colleges and believes she can tackle the school’s financial problems and restore its accreditation, which is currently on probation.
“It’s an issue of getting control on the budget, and then living by the budget just as you would do for your own household,” Moore said.
Moore replaces interim trio Mike Smith, Jane Knodell and David Coates, appointed by the board in September after president Christine Plunkett abruptly resigned. Moore said that Knodell had asked her to apply.
College officials touted Moore as a leader who knows how to increase enrollment and raise money. She led a $10 million capital campaign at Lyndon State, according to a press release from Burlington College.
“I am fully confident that Carol is capable of moving the college towards the goals of financial stability, enrollment growth, and a bright future,” says Yves Bradley, board chair.
Moore resigned in 2011 from Lyndon State after 13 years there. She said at the time that she left for personal reasons, according to a 2011 press release from the college. Friday Moore said she retired from the college.
Prior to that job, Moore was provost and vice president of academic affairs at Mercy College in New York City, according to the Lyndon State College press release.
At Lyndon State, she developed seven new undergraduate programs, led construction of a new residence hall and community center and guided the school through two successful re-accreditation visits, according to the Lyndon State release.
Since February Moore has also served as executive director of NorthWoods Stewardship Center, an outdoor education and land stewardship organization in Charleston. She lives in the Northeast Kingdom but said she will take up residence at least part time in Burlington.
Moore also has done academic consulting for higher education since she left Lyndon State, she said.
Mike Smith had said his last day as interim would be Dec. 12 but Thursday, but he decided to make Dec. 5 his last day.
“I need to get back to the commitments that I have put off during this unexpected short-term swing into higher ed. I will do some clean up stuff for the College next week but not as interim President,” Smith said in an email Thursday.
Moore said the school needs to look for grants and make a plan to pay down its debt, she said. Moore said the land deal is “essential” to reducing its debt.
Moore will be paid $125,000 annual salary without benefits, she said. Her first steps will be to set up a phone and an email address, she said.
