Kandee Ferrell
Special Sections/Opinion Editor
President Anne C. Steele announced to the Muskingum University community Saturday that she intends to retire June 30, 2016.
An email including letters from President Steele and Chairman of Muskingum University Board of Trustees Hal Burlingame went out to faculty, staff, and students at approximately 1:47 p.m.
Steele serves as Muskingum’s 20th President and she was the first female to assume presidency. She began her journey in January 2000.
During her tenure, she has led construction on six new buildings on campus including Phillip and Betsey Caldwell Hall, Walter K. Chess Center, Otto and Fran Walter Hall, John and Ruth Neptune Art Center, Louis O. Palmer Gallery, and Roberta A. Smith University Library, which will be dedicated in the fall of 2015.
All of the buildings that were constructed during Steele’s time as President were paid for by gifts from Alumni and friends according to Burlingame.
She also aided Muskingum in adding two new master’s degree programs and 15 new majors.
In 2010, President Steele even oversaw Muskingum College transform to Muskingum University.
Student enrollment, operating revenue, and the endowment have all grown during Steele’s presidency.
Burlingame said in his letter to the community that the Board of Trustees accepted Steele’s wish to retire “with great regret and deep appreciation for her exceptional leadership and visions.”
Burlingame said that a national search will begin in hopes to find candidates to succeed President Steele.
