Moore announces retirement

Chancellor of the Vermont State Colleges Tim Donovan expects to recommend an interim president to the Board of Trustees during its June 2 meeting.

During Tuesday's faculty assembly meeting, faculty spoke to the Donovan about the timeline in the coming year following President Carol Moore's retirement announcement.

Moore will continue being president until June 30, at which point an interim will take over her duties.

To find a permanent president, the board will conduct a nation-wide search by forming a search committee made up of trustees, members of the community, faculty, and students.

Donovan said this search would provide a chance to get the word out about Lyndon State College as well.

"This is an opportunity to present this institution through a search," he said.

Before the chancellor arrived at the meeting the faculty assembly wrote and approved a public statement about President Moore's retirement:

We are grateful for President Carol Moore's contributions to Lyndon State College over her thirteen years here and we respect her decision to retire. We can only imagine that it must have been a very difficult one, and we know that it required considerable strength and courage. We wish her well.

Stay with lyndonstatecritic.com for more information on this story and pick up issue 20 of The Critic on Friday. 

President Moore announces retirement

By Sam Monroe 

Despite recent controversy around the Lyndon campus, President Carol Moore says she didn't feel pressured into retirement.

"My husband and I have been talking about retiring, we are of that age now, for a few years," said Moore on Monday morning. The decision is a fairly new one for Moore and is influenced greatly by her current family situation.

"At this moment I needed to make this decision for myself and for my family," said Moore. "My husband has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. My parents are 91 and 93.

"This year has been a particularly hard year. My mother has fallen twice and fractured her back and arm in several places. They need to move and live with me. It's time for them, as hard as it is, to give up their own independent living, the time has come, they need help," Moore explained.

With her current family situation Moore feels uncomfortable about making decisions for the future of the college when she won't be part of it.

"Clearly for the college, this year has been a challenging year," she went on to say.

"The NEASC team was quite clear that we must peel back our curriculum and we must align our faculty with the students. Those are really tough things to do, and they really require the complete attention of a strong president, and I need to devote more of my time to my husband and my parents," she explained.

The decision is a fairly recent one from Moore. It was announced on Friday afternoon and quickly spread around campus and the local community.

According to Moore, she originally planned on retiring at the end of the 2011-2012 school year, but given her current situation she has decided now is the appropriate time for the decision.

President Moore and the Chancellor of the Vermont State Colleges had began talking about the decision in the last few weeks before it was made final.

Original Story: 

Moore announced her retirement from Lyndon State College Friday afternoon.

"It is with a great sense of accomplishment, satisfaction, and sadness that I write to inform you that after 13 years as Lyndon's president, I will be retiring as of June 30, 2011," said Moore in an e-mail statement sent to the entire community of LSC.

"It's so hard to think about all the things President Moore has accomplished and contributed to Lyndon over the years," said Tim Donovan, Chancellor of the Vermont State College system in a phone interview. "I wish her all the best in her future."

"Because the FY2012 budget must be finalized by early May, and it will become the responsibility of my successor thus I have referred final decisions on that budget to the Chancellor of the Vermont State Colleges," Moore's statement read.  "The Chancellor and the Faculty Federation have agreed to extend the deadline for making faculty personnel decisions until May 2."

"My focus at this point is how to start a transition at Lyndon that will be constructive as possible as we try to put the FY (fiscal year) 2012 budget to bed," Donovan said.

The search for a new president is conducted mostly by the Board of Trustees, said the chancellor. He also said he will be on campus in the near future to get the project started and is looking forward to working closely with those on campus.

"It is sad and unfortunate to see President Moore decided to retire, but I wish her the best of luck in retirement," said Student Government Association President John Kleinhans. "She has been a true hero of mine and without her, my Lyndon State College experience would not be as great as it is."

"I feel sad in a way that it came to this," said Education Professor Tim Sturm. "But I think she made the decision that's in the best interests of the college and the her best interest."

Stay with The Critic for updates on the situation; we will be updating the story as more information comes available. 

News Editor Eric Blaisdell contributed to this story.