Dr. Joseph B. Moore took office as the president of Lesley University in July of 2007. Prior to his appointment at Lesley, Dr. Moore served seven years as the President of Empire State College, a comprehensive college within the State University of New York; as Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Mansfield University in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education; and as Director of Academic Affairs and Planning in the Office of the Chancellor at the Vermont State Colleges.
Dr. Moore has a B.A. in English from the University of Massachusetts, Summa Cum Laude; an M.A. in English from the University of New Hampshire; and an Ed.D. in Education Administration from the University of Vermont. He currently serves on the board of overseers for the Citi Performing Arts Center, and on the executive board for the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts (AICUM). He is past chair of the board of trustees for the Council of Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) based in Chicago, and a former member of the Commission on Adult Learning and Educational Credentials of the American Council on Education (ACE).
In recent years the University has received a transforming gift and, under the leadership of President Moore, added new facilities to its physical plant in Cambridge, including additional academic and library space, enhanced space for student services, additional residence halls, and a second dining hall, and increased undergraduate applications and enrollments.
In the coming year we begin construction on a new Arts Center in Porter Square that will provide new synergies for arts programming across the university and serve as a hub of artistic creativity. These new facilities will be a physical manifestation of the importance of the arts throughout the University and will deepen the University’s relationship with the surrounding community.
The University is actively engaged in the creation of new academic programs that meet the needs of individuals and communities – in education, the arts, business, and the environment. In addition, Lesley is developing new partnerships that strengthen its ability to fulfill its mission, from the Urban Teachers Center to the Urban Ecology Institute. Lesley’s new School Partnership Initiative is an externally-funded, three-year initiative with a local K-5 school to investigate whether the integration of appropriate hardware and software in a diverse, lower-performing school can enhance student learning outcomes.
Dr. Moore’s professional interests include the use of digital technology to extend educational opportunity to underserved populations and deepen student learning; the relationship between a university and its immediate community; and state and federal educational policy, including higher education finance, federal financial aid, and policy language.