presidents Synodinos and Pollick to my years—we’ve transformed this campus into a beautiful place where people want to study, work, and play, and spend an important part of their years. That’s one of the things that I look back on as a legacy, because a sense of place is crucially important for a college.”
Establishing Strong Community Relationships
MacDonald’s impact has extended beyond campus as well, into the surrounding community of Annville. “I’m pleased that I’ve been able to reestablish strong bonds of mutual trust and respect with the local community,” he said. “We’ve been Broadening and Deepening the College’s able to shape a good collaborative relationship, a real sense of respect and good faith with those good folks in Annville Academic Programs Township. I believe we truly respect and like each other.” His recent work with the As dean of the faculty from 1998 community includes supporting to 2004, MacDonald worked Annville’s streetscape improveclosely with the College’s faculty ment projects through matching to strengthen and enrich LVC’s grants and in-kind contributions. academic life. He led faculty to In addition, he has supported place a renewed emphasis on and encouraged LVC staff and advising as part of students’ firststudents to become increasingly year experience. He prompted a involved in charitable and reform of the faculty evaluation educational projects that link process that finally resulted campus and community on in the institutionalization of many levels, from volunteering peer evaluation at LVC and he in the community to initiating played important supporting Dr. Stephen MacDonald congratulates Pennsylvania programs in neighboring school roles or initiated the creation Governor Tom Corbett ’71 on receiving LVC’s Founders districts. of new programs in art, digital Day Award. MacDonald notes that the communications, and the first-year sense of good will and cooperation enjoyed between LVC seminar program. MacDonald is particularly pleased with and the surrounding community during his tenure has stood the success of the College’s Physical Therapy Program, which both groups in good stead when conflicts have arisen— received its initial accreditation in 2003 and graduated its like when LVC sought permission from the township’s first Doctors of Physical Therapy in 2006. “Our folks in the historic architecture review board to raze a building for PT program worked very hard to get accreditation, and I a construction project. “We had some principled, honest was able to help them in that process. I derive a considerable disagreement on both sides, but the dispute was never amount of satisfaction from the program’s success.”
Future Plans: Reading, Playing, Traveling After 13 years of focused achievement, what does the future hold for MacDonald? “That’s easy,” he said. “I need to do a lot of reading—I have a reading list that has grown lengthier and lengthier over the last eight years. “And I want to learn to play the piano,” he added, noting that he first began taking lessons in his fifties, while serving as the associate dean at Dickinson College in Carlisle. “I was taking lessons from the local teacher, and I was preceded by a six-year-old and followed by an eight-year-old, but I had to give it up when I came here as dean.” MacDonald added that he and his wife, Mary Warner, plan to travel, both to visit places they’ve never been and to revisit places he hasn’t seen in decades. “About 500 years ago I was a soldier in Vietnam,” he said. “I left there in 1964, when I was just a kid. I’m very curious to go back and see what the place is like.”
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