by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business Magazine Vermont State Colleges (VSC) Chancellor Jeb Spaulding confirmed today that Lyndon State College President Joe Bertolino has accepted the presidency of Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU). The move will bring him closer to his family in New York and New Jersey. The VSC Board of Trustees is likely to appoint an interim president for Lyndon State College within the month. Bertolino has been president of LSC since 2012. He told VBM late last year that he felt his time in Lyndon was drawing near its end and that he wanted to be closer to the New York City area. He previously had been a vice president at Queens College/City University of New York.
“SCSU will have a dynamic new leader in Joe Bertolino. On behalf of the VSC Board of Trustees, I would like to thank Joe for his years of leadership and the strong sense of community he instilled at Lyndon State College. We remain steadfast in our commitment to a strong future for Lyndon and wish Joe the very best in his new role,” stated VSC Board Chair Martha O’Connor.
VSC Chancellor Jeb Spaulding said, “During his time at Lyndon State College, Joe and his team have created a strong, studentcentered community that supports the success of all students.
"He has also led efforts among his colleagues to build stronger connections among the colleges of the VSC. I am confident the Board will use this transition as an opportunity to build upon Joe’s work to enhance students’ academic experiences, to leverage systemwide resources on their behalf, and to pursue a strong alliance with Johnson State College.”
This is the second recent opening for a VSC presidency. Dan Smith announced last month that he was leaveing Vermont Technical College (Story) for the Vermont Community Foundation.
Lyndon continues to receive national recognition for its atmospheric sciences, electronic journalism arts and outdoor recreation management programs. This year it introduced the college’s first online degree program in early childhood education and created a new Center for Professional Studies. Recent capital projects include two new science labs, a new music, business and industry lab, a new electronic journalism arts studio, new smart classrooms, a new veterans’ lounge and several other public spaces. In the past two years, Lyndon has secured a record number of gifts from a record number of donors. With these new scholarship funds, many local students have come to Lyndon who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to attend college.
In a message to the Lyndon community today, Bertolino wrote, “Lyndon is an extraordinary institution. Today I continue to be enamored with it. I am particularly proud of the relationships that we have built and that have strengthened our community. We have always come together to support one another. While the profile of our institution has increased, so too has our LSC Pride.”
While Bertolino has had a profound impact on LSC and it has advanced his career in many ways, all of which he is aware of and appreciated, he told Vermont Business Magazine in its December 2015 issue (story by Joyce Marcel) that being the president of Lyndon State had one unforeseen down side: “Initially, I don’t think I fully appreciated what it means to be in a small community,” he said. “I have no anonymity here. What I say and what I do matters and is interpreted by many different people in many different ways. I might make a side comment or a joke, only to hear later that I’ve made some decision that I don’t know about. I have no privacy and I have no life. When I first came here, people would grab my cart in the White Market and pull me around the market and tell me what I should buy. And business is always being conducted. If I’m in the Dollar General or the Miss Lyndonville Diner, it is not unusual for someone to sit down in the booth and start talking to me about business. So I realize that my life is not my own.”
Bertolino said at the time that he did not see himself staying at LSC for the rest of his career. “I’ll be here for a little while longer,” he said. “I’ve been very honest that I love it here and it’s a great place. The chancellor has asked me to stay and I’ve agreed to do that for the next couple of years. There’s a lot of work to be done here and with the VSC. I think we’ll be able to turn the enrollment situation around and generate additional revenue and get some major donors. You can’t just focus on 18-22-year-olds any more. I think with all we’re doing, we’ll be successful. And the relationships we’ve been developing with middle schools and high schools become critical.”
Bertolino, openly gay, is also a national advocate for LGBTQ equality in higher education.
He is a member of a group called LGBTQ Presidents in Higher Education that only began organizing in 2010 with nine people. Now its membership is closer to 60. The rapid rise of opportunities for openly gay men and women at the college president’s level is keeping pace with the rapid expansion of gay rights in America, including the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn anti-gay marriage laws.
“One of the reasons LGBTQ presidents come together is to hopefully mentor others,” Bertolino told VBM. “We want to say that if you are a good leader, the opportunities will present themselves. But not in every region of the country, mind you. I’ve been out for virtually all my college career. So when I was searching for a presidency, search firms would call and I’d say, ‘Before we continue this discussion, I have a partner of 20 years and his name is Bil. Is this going to be a problem? If so, let’s not waste each others’ time’.”
Bertolino’s partner is Dr Bil Leipold, the chief of the Human Resources Office at Rutgers University in Newark, NJ.
“We have a home in central New Jersey and we’re in a 400-mile commuter relationship,” Bertolino said. “He did not follow me here. The secret of our relationship success for 22 years is that sometimes we live together and sometimes we don’t.”
A statement from VSC said Bertolino was selected by SCSU after a highly competitive search and will begin his new role in late August.
Lyndon State College, founded in 1911, combines a liberal arts education with nationally recognized professional programs that integrate theory with handson experiences to prepare individuals for career success. Lyndon State offers twoand fouryear degrees and graduate degrees in education and liberal arts. Founded in 1911, Lyndon’s beautiful hilltop campus is located in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom.