By JACKSON WANG
Executive Editor
The search for The College of Saint Rose’s tenth fulltime president is coming to an end. The fourth and final candidate made a visit to Albany last week. Stephen Immerman, a current college president of Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, Mass., spoke to a group of faculty members on why he wants to be the next president of Saint Rose on Friday.
“This is a great place, it’s quite remarkable,” said Immerman, on the College. “The place is well run.”
The 61-year-old SUNY Potsdam graduate said he applied for the position because he believes he still has what it takes to be a college president.
“I’m not in any other searches,” said Immerman, referring to being a presidential candidate at any other institutions. “This is a rare opportunity. An opportunity like this is not common.”
After receiving his bachelor’s degree from SUNY Potsdam, Immerman traveled down Interstate 90 to UAlbany. That’s where he earned his master’s degree in science and educational specialist in 1977.
Upon earning his master’s degree, Immerman took his first job at Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a business advisor to fraternities and independent living groups in 1979. He would eventually work his way up the ranks, before leaving the institution in 2009, where then he served as a special assistant to the vice president for resource development at the time.
After leaving MIT, Immerman took on his first college president role at Montserrat College of Art.
He described himself as goldilocks by trying to become the next college president of Saint Rose.
“MIT was too big for me, Montserrat is too small, so I’m hoping that Saint Rose is just right for me,” Immerman said.
If he is the next college president at Saint Rose, Immerman said one of the first things he would do is change the website. He said he would also want to make sure that Saint Rose is constantly branding and advertising because the College needs to compete to get the right students on campus.
“We want students to belong here,” Immerman said. “We have to give students a tool kit to prepare for the real world.”
But Immerman said before he starts to make changes, he would listen to everyone here on campus.
“It’s important to understand the community before making changes,” Immerman said.
Lorrie Pizzola, the current interim director of alumni relations said she thought Immerman brought a lot of energy and enthusiasm. She would like to see the next college president to capitalize on the success that Mark Sullivan started when he was president two years ago.
“We have to look at how we can make higher education more affordable to students,” Lorrie said. “And from the alumni perspective, what we can do to support our alumni relationships to hopefully enhance our students’ experiences here.”
Pizzola also liked Immerman’s philosophy on higher education and government.
“It reminds people that education at a private school may actually be affordable,” Pizzola said.
Immerman said you have to be involved in government as a college president. He said he’s currently actively engaged in the politics in Massachusetts.
Immerman said he was very impressed with the facilities at Saint Rose and wishes they could be used more, such as having more Friday classes. He believes this will help students be better prepared for the future.
“When you’re contributing to future leaders…it doesn’t get much better than that,” Immerman said.
