NEWS
PRESIDENT’S
BRIEFS
PERSPECTIVE
New Executive Vice President for
Academic Affairs Named
Susan Thompson Gorman, Ph.D., has been appointed Stevenson’s
Throughout history, universities have
been both symbolic and practical.
Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs. Gorman previously
served as the Senior Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs
and was the founding Dean of Stevenson’s School of the Sciences. In
Universities foster values and a spirit of optimism. And the
her new position, she will serve as a member of the President’s Cabi-
university experience creates the future through innovation
net while providing the academic leadership for Stevenson. As Chief
and technology while helping people formulate plans of study
for their careers and lives. Stevenson’s motto—For Learning.
For Living.—embodies these ideals; we have essentially been a
case study on effective growth through practical change.
As a sign of this optimism and our commitment to preparing students for their futures as citizens and working
professionals, Stevenson celebrated the opening of its new
200,000-square-foot Academic Center at Owings Mills North
on Tuesday, Aug. 30. This is a significant milestone in our history, and I thought it would be of interest to Ventures readers
to briefly review what has happened since 2000 in terms of
achieving Stevenson’s vision and mission.
By 2000, Villa Julie College had grown as much as it could
in its small, private college form. Since its 1947 start, the College had made significant contributions through its many
graduates. But with limited space and infrastructure on our
original campus, it was impossible for the College to grow any
further, which impacted our ability to serve students and the
community.
Also from its start, Villa Julie focused on serving many firstgeneration college students. This aligned with the mission of
our founders, and now neighbors, the Sisters of Notre Dame
de Namur. However, the leadership of the College, including
the Board of Trustees and the President’s Cabinet, was concerned that if we did not expand the campus and its offerings,
the ability to achieve our mission would be severely hampered.
With the Board’s encouragement, we began to formulate
plans for a new campus in Owings Mills. After an extensive and thoughtful three-year process, in 2008, the Board
of Trustees approved the creation of Stevenson University
through both a careful process and a common method of
naming a university: after its geographic location. Although
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The new University needed a student housing component
Schools, support the professional growth and development of fac-
that could not be accommodated on the original Greenspring
ulty, participate in shared governance, and support student learning
Valley campus. We were fortunate to be able to elicit the support
through a