Lee University President Conn stepping down
Longtime Lee University President Paul Conn will leave his position next year and transition to a role as chancellor, he told university faculty Tuesday afternoon.
The new role will serve as an advisory position to help a new president. Conn will remain in his position until the completion of the Summer 2020 term in August, in which he will officially transition to the role as chancellor.
“I have made this decision because I believe I can serve Lee better not by directing the day-to-day operations, but by working with a new leader who can bring fresh energy and insight to our shared vision,” Conn said in a statement.
During his tenure, which began in 1986, student enrollment grew from 1,000 students to more than 5,000. The physical campus also grew, expanding from 23 acres to 125 acres with the completion of 30 building projects. The university’s operating budget now exceeds $100 million, and Conn helped oversee the school’s transition from NAIA to NCAA Division II for its 18 sports programs.
Conn met with the school’s board of directors on Friday during the university’s homecoming weekend to inform them of the decision. The board will now be tasked with finding his successor.
“We do this reluctantly, but with respect for his decision to make this transition. Each of us individually joined this board, during the last twenty-five years, because we bought into Dr. Conn’s vision for what Lee University can and should become, and because we want to embrace and support his dreams for this school,” board chairman Dennis Livingston said in a release. “Dr. Conn’s vision will not end here. We are pledged to find a successor who will continue the work he has set in motion. We hope to find a new president who will inspire the same confidence and enthusiasm which Dr. Conn has drawn from so many people.”
Livingston will appoint a search committee within the next week that will seek input from alumni, the community, the Church of God — with which the university is affiliated — faculty and others, according to the release.
Conn, 73, is the longest serving CEO of a college or university in Tennessee, according to the release.