Presidential Candidate Margaret Madden

Dr. Margaret Madden could see herself in Vermont.

The Green Mountain State is one of the reasons that drew her interest.

"It's beautiful," she said. "It's an area that attracts a lot of really interesting, smart and artistic people. Even though there are small towns, they are populated by interesting people."

The size of the Vermont State College system is appealing to Madden. Coming from the State University of New York system, she would welcome the transition to the VSC because it is smaller.

"I'm excited about that because it is an interesting little world," she said. "I believe that public, regional campuses like this have as part of their mission to interact with their community. The small communities give the people as citizens the opportunity to have an impact and to make a difference on the quality of life. You can be part of making the community a good place to live."

The small community of Lyndon State College was a big reason for Madden to apply for the job. She wants to feel like she works at a college, which can be lost at larger institutions.

"When I thought about my next career move I really was looking for a campus that was small, student centered, primarily undergraduate and really buys into, as part of its mission, to serve the region," she said. "As a senior administrator I don't want to be disconnected from the real work of the college, from the students and from the faculty, from the events on campus and all those kinds of things."

She wants to feel like a part of the LSC community and not just a cog in the LSC machine.

"I like to be reminded why we are here," said Madden. "I want to be able to talk to students and see that what happens at the college is actually having an impact. It's just a smaller campus allows much more of that interaction."

Along with the environment there are close relationships with the faculty and staff that need to be maintained and problems that will need to be solved. Madden would take her background in social psychology and put it to good use.

"I do think like a social scientist," she said. "Most answers can be answered empirically. Social psychology takes the approach that you look at a certain situation and the characteristics of the situation, the structures and process of things. From and administrative point of view that leads me to tend to try to create change or solve problems by analyzing the features of the situation."

Madden does not see her lack of having presidential experience as a negative thing. In fact, she feels she is quite qualified already having taken on some presidential responsibility at SUNY at Potsdam.

"I'm ready to become a president and part of it is because the position that I am in now is pretty broad and far-reaching," she said. "I've had an opportunity to do things that are a bigger part of a president's job enough to know that I like them, but also I have some sense that I have enough experience to be successful."