As money gets tight, St. John’s College rolls 3 president jobs into 1

The board at St. John’s College, which has campuses in Annapolis and Santa Fe, New Mexico, voted this weekend to consolidate its leadership to a single college-wide presidency rather than individual campus presidents.

The leadership shakeup comes as St. John’s endures enrollment declines and a $5 million structural deficit. Last year, the college laid off about 5% of its workforce and dipped into its nearly $400 million endowment to close a budget gap of $10 million. The small liberal arts college is one of many in Maryland and across the country facing financial headwinds as fewer students attend college and operating costs climb.

St. John’s has had two campus presidents since 1986. The board is expected to change the college bylaws next fall to formally consolidate the leadership structure; for now, Santa Fe president J. Walter Sterling will add two more jobs to his résumé: interim college-wide president and interim Annapolis president.

“We’re at a time where the challenges in higher education require some of the greater agility and efficiency of having a unified leadership team,” Sterling said in an interview before the board’s vote.

Suzy Paalman, who has been interim president of the Annapolis campus for a year, will step down to return to her post as campus dean. She was briefly promoted to the presidency after former leader Nora Demleitner resigned suddenly last year.

Sterling has his fair share of challenges ahead.

Enrollment has stayed fairly steady over the past 10 years, hovering at about 800 undergraduate students. But according to the most recent board report released in February, some larger-than-usual classes will graduate in the next few years, and the college anticipates modest declines in enrollment next year.

Sterling said in an interview that growing enrollment is his top priority. That means potentially adding degree programs, like the newly launched Master of Arts in Middle Eastern Classics, which the Santa Fe campus introduced. It’s only the fourth degree the liberal arts college offers and the first new one in 30 years.

“We face constant budgetary pressure, enrollment pressure, and we are going to work very hard in the coming years to try to get ourselves to a place of long-term fiscal and enrollment stability and sustainability,” he said.

If the college can’t grow enrollment, it will have to make cuts, Sterling said.

“Our costs are only going to go up,” he said. “The board expects the leadership of the college to seek structural expense reductions, including looking at our total staff and faculty compensation and head count, and seeing if there are any ways to run more efficiently.”

Consolidating the presidency, Sterling said, is one form of savings for the college.

At the same time, the college is long overdue to give faculty and staff pay increases, the new president noted. He said that leadership is preparing to give out bonuses this year and has raised the base salary for faculty.

“We care deeply about keeping our salaries and benefits fair and competitive,” he said. That may mean reducing the number of people the college employs.

In some ways, St. Johns is in a better financial position than similar colleges. It carries very little debt, and since 2018, its endowment has grown from $170 million to $390 million, which is large for a college of its size.

Leslie Palmieri, the new vice president of advancement and alumni relations, said the college’s long-term financial health is excellent, noting that 30% of the operating budget is covered by endowment funds. On average, most schools only cover about 10% of their operating budgets with their endowments.

St. John’s is leaning into fundraising to brighten that financial outlook.

Donors are usually interested in giving to specific, restricted funds for scholarships and buildings, but Palmieri and her team are advocating for more unrestricted gifts that would allow the college to use the money however it needs.

Sterling expects to split his time evenly between both campuses during the academic year. His wife and two children will stay at the president’s house in Santa Fe while he travels back and forth, spending a few weeks on each campus and fulfilling all of the ceremonial duties.

An alum of the Annapolis campus and a native of the city, Sterling noted it wasn’t “uncharted territory” for him to be back in Maryland. His father was a tutor at the college, so he has been on the Annapolis campus for every year of his life.

Sterling is serving as college wide president in an interim manner and said he expects a nationwide search to be launched for the permanent position. While he didn’t throw his hat in the ring for the full-time role yet, he did say he’s committed to the college.

”As long as my service is effective and beneficial, I’m very motivated to stay,” he said.

About the Education Hub

This reporting is part of The Banner’s Education Hub, community-funded journalism that provides parents with resources they need to make decisions about how their children learn. Read more.