Champlain College announced that Dr. Leslie Averill has been appointed Vice President for Academic Affairs (VPAA) for the 2020-2021 academic year. In addition to this one-year appointment, she will serve as Chief Operating Officer (COO) in a permanent capacity, phasing into that role as the year progresses.
Champlain College President Benjamin Ola. Akande said, “I am confident that Leslie’s leadership skills will bridge us successfully in fulfilling our academic mission as we look to our planned hire of a permanent Provost, following a national search process this coming year.” The role of Vice President for Academic Affairs will be in place only for the 2020-2021 academic year and will sunset when a Provost is named.
As VPAA, Leslie will work closely with academic leaders to implement a change agenda for Champlain’s academic structures, with a commitment to frequent communication and to good governance in close collaboration with faculty leadership. Leslie is looking forward to contributing in her VPAA role, with advice and support during her transition from Outgoing Interim President and Strategic Advisor Dr. Laurie Quinn. As prior colleagues, Leslie and Laurie worked closely together in shared dedication to student learning, using data-driven systems change to improve retention and graduation rates. A bold, creative and generative thinker and scholar-practitioner, Leslie will lead academics this coming year with integrity and passion for Champlain’s mission.
President Akande added, “Leslie will serve on my senior team and in her dual capacity as COO will lead the implementation of our strategy. Leslie will help coordinate four cross-functional work groups I am convening that focus on the continued strength of the College. This work will include shaping the Champlain 2025 strategic framework to meet the challenges of our new context. Her extensive experience in student life and her career-long commitment to campus health and safety will guide us well as we look to Fall 2020.”
Outgoing Interim President and Strategic Advisor Dr. Laurie Quinn added, “Dr. Averill‘s appointment this year as Vice President of Academic Affairs at Champlain ensures that the momentum of the College’s innovative academic mission will continue to build at this critical time, when our state needs its higher education sector more than ever.”
Leslie began her higher education career as a Champlain College adjunct faculty member some twenty years ago, after serving in the Colchester K-12 public schools as a health educator. Following a number of years in managerial roles in the health club industry, she started at Champlain teaching communication and leadership courses, transitioning in 2005 to a full-time staff position as the Director of the then-new IDX Student Life Center. After a series of promotions and expansions of her scope of leadership, she completed six successful years as Vice President of Student Life. Leslie completed a doctoral degree from the University of Vermont in Education Leadership and Policy Studies in 2011.
Since leaving Champlain, Leslie founded her own firm to work with the business and nonprofit sectors as well as with clients in higher education to achieve organizational success. Leslie has recently renewed her impact in the classroom through teaching undergraduates in UVM's Grossman School of Business and doctoral students in Educational Leadership at Southern New Hampshire University. Leslie views the classroom (virtual or face to face) as a “magical space full of hope and possibilities” and works continuously to weave together the art and science of teaching, learning, management and leadership.
About Champlain College
Founded in 1878, Champlain College is a small, not-for-profit, private college in Burlington, Vermont, with additional campuses in Montreal, Canada, and Dublin, Ireland. Champlain offers a traditional undergraduate experience from its beautiful campus overlooking Lake Champlain. Since 1993, Champlain has also offered industry-focused undergraduate and graduate programs fully online to working adults, and, through its truED workforce development program, to leading organizations across the country. Champlain's distinctive career-driven approach to higher education embodies the notion that true learning occurs when information and experience come together to create knowledge. Champlain College is included in the Princeton Review's The Best 385 Colleges: 2020 Edition, and was named the best private online college by Intelligent.com in 2020. Champlain was ranked among the top 100 Regional Universities in the North and named a "Most Innovative School" for the fifth year in a row by U.S. News & World Report. For more information, visit champlain.edu.