IN OWN WORDS, SUNY ONEONTA’S
PRESIDENT EXPRESSES DELIGHT
ADMINISTRATOR
FROM COLORADO
NEW PRESIDENT
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ONEONTA – The State University of New York Board of Trustees today appointed Dr. Barbara Jean Morris, a higher-education administrator from Colorado, as SUNY Oneonta president, effective July 1.
She succeeds Nancy Kleniewski, president since 2008, a student-centric administrator who also reorganized the college under five deans, and implemented an energetic program of construction and renovation that transformed the campus.
Dr. Morris has served as the provost and vice president for academic affairs at Fort Lewis College, in Durango, Colo., since 2011.
In this role, she reported to the president and served as chief academic officer of the rural regional public arts college and was responsible for all academic matters including oversight of educational policy and programs of instruction; the development and assessment of academic programs; and faculty recruitment and development. She also had broad oversight of internal operations, including strategic planning, data-driven modeling, budgeting, fundraising, and state and legislative policy.
Prior to joining Fort Lewis College, Dr. Morris worked for 16 years at the University of Redlands in southern California. She held many leadership roles, leaving as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Morris also served the Colorado Commission of Higher Education (CCHE) as the elected representative from the Academic Council. She served on the Colorado State Remedial Education Task Force, the Supplemental Academic Instruction Sub-committee, the General Education Council, the Prior Learning Assessment Committee and the P-20 Alignment committee.
The mother of three and grandmother of two, Dr. Morris received her bachelor of arts in political science from San Diego State University, and a master of arts and a doctorate in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is moving here with her rescue dog, Bulah.
