PUTNEY — Come July 1, Dr. Peter Eden will replace Dr. Lynda J. Katz as Landmark College's president.
Eden, the dean of arts and sciences and a professor of biotechnology at Endicott College in Beverly, Mass., was the unanimous choice of the Board of Trustees of the two-year college for students with dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), or other specific learning disabilities.
In a news release, Trustees Chair Charles Manley praised Eden, a scholar of microbiology, molecular biology, and neurobiology, as someone with “experience with 21st century teaching and learning practices” who is “among the vanguard of young educational leaders who are rising to the top of the best institutions in the country at a time of great challenge and opportunity for higher education.”
The challenges that Eden will face as the college's fourth president are considerable.
Landmark College, established in 1985 on the campus of the defunct Windham College, has had a difficult year, as the young school has struggled with a budget deficit of about $300,000, low enrollment, and the retirement of longstanding faculty and staff.
Since January 2010, nearly 25 faculty and staff have left the school, including four members of the senior management team.
In the first semester of the school year that just ended, Landmark's projected enrollment of 500 fell short by roughly 25 students.
At a 2010 cost of $56,800 per year for tuition and fees, 25 students would have generated approximately $1.4 million, before financial aid.
The college's budget will not be the only concern for Eden in the coming months.
Landmark's Faculty Senate has been at odds with Katz in the past year. Katz's decision to make a presentation to the Board of Trustees without first presenting it to the Faculty Senate has drawn criticism from members of the faculty and staff.
In a letter to the Board of Trustees, the senate expressed their concern that their system of shared governance, which grants “a substantive voice in matters of programs, curriculum, instruction, faculty personnel, and other aspects of institutional policy that relate to its areas of responsibility and expertise,” had been overlooked.
In the letter, the senate also said that Katz had “largely lost the trust and confidence of the professional community.”
In an interview earlier this year, Katz explained that her intention in circumventing the senate was to prevent setting a precedent that would force the next president of the college to answer to anyone other than the Board of Trustees.
“I was carrying out my responsibility as president of the college, and they didn't like it,” she said.
Asked if she had any advice for a new president concerning leadership in the face of dissent, Katz said, “No.”
“You know the old saying: you lead, you follow, or you get out of the way,” she said. “If you're not happy here and you don't like the way things are run, then you shouldn't remain.”
Eden said that he has “seen the challenges that face most institutions regarding shared governance.”
“If both sides are open to discussion (and therefore appreciate all variables), respect one another, and understand the need to adhere to process and policy, I am confident that the long-term needs of the students and institution will prevail in terms of finding common ground on key issues,” the incoming president said.
Landmark had originally offered the job to Dr. Joseph Nyre, who instead took the position of president at Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y.
According to one member of Landmark's senior faculty who declined to be identified, the Board of Trustees sees Eden as a fast learner who understands the contemporary classroom and as someone coming to Landmark to do something important and move on.
“I am ready to take on new challenges in higher education, and I am ready to evolve as an academic administrator and educator,” Eden said, describing Landmark as “an optimally-sized, agile institution that was poised for true transformation.”
Manley saluted Katz, who leaves Landmark after 17 years, for her “dedicated and insightful leadership” and “her guiding efforts and vision have built upon the College's unique mission and enhanced its national and international programs and reputation as the leading institution of higher education for students who learn differently.”
Prior to his work at Endicott, Eden taught at Marywood University in Pennsylvania, as well as at the Jackson Laboratory and the College of the Atlantic, both in Bar Harbor, Maine.
He studied as an undergraduate at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and earned his Ph.D. from University of New Hampshire. He completed his post-doctoral training at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.