Lenoir-Rhyne University Board of Trustees Appoints Dr. Summer McGee as President

Lenoir-Rhyne University has selected Summer McGee, Ph.D, as the institution’s 13th president. Her appointment was enthusiastically approved by the Lenoir-Rhyne Board of Trustees after a national search. 

McGee, the current president of Salem Academy and College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, will assume the presidency on July 1, continuing a distinguished academic career at Lenoir-Rhyne, a private Lutheran university with more than 2,200 students. She previously served the University of New Haven as the founding dean of its School of Health Sciences, after serving as an associate professor of management in that institution’s Pompea College of Business. McGee becomes the first female president in Lenoir-Rhyne’s 134-year history. 

“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Summer McGee to the Lenoir-Rhyne community,” said Madeleine Dassow, chair of the Board of Trustees. “Her strategic vision, commitment to student-centered education, and deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing higher education today impressed the entire board. We are confident that Dr. McGee’s leadership will build on President’s Whitt’s success and will guide Lenoir-Rhyne toward a bright and successful future.”

"I am humbled and honored to be selected as the 13th president of Lenoir-Rhyne University," said McGee. “What calls me to Lenoir-Rhyne is its simultaneous commitment to excellence, faith, tradition, and innovation, through its nationally recognized academic programs, its deep integration of values-based education with real-world impact, and the excellence that Bears bring to all they do, whether in competition, learning, or service. I look forward to partnering with Lenoir-Rhyne’s faculty, staff, and students as we continue its tradition of excellence while embracing its mission and commitments.” 

A scholar of health policy and bioethics and an award-winning teacher, McGee has published extensively and is often cited and appears in the media. She serves on the Council of Independent Colleges Board of Directors as well as the Executive Committee of the North Carolina Council of Independent Colleges, REACH Women’s Network Board of Advisors, and the Triad Region Board of Directors of Novant Health. 

McGee has led Salem Academy and College since 2021, overseeing a number of strategic initiatives that have resulted in improved enrollment and financial stability, including Salem College’s three years of continuous growth in incoming class size, more than 400 percent, as well as its incoming students’ academic qualifications and geographical reach. Under her leadership, the institution has also seen record-breaking fundraising and an improvement to its financial health.  The college also added 11 new academic programs, three new NCAA sports, and new accelerated dual-degree programs and community partnerships. 

Prior to her presidency at Salem, McGee was the founding dean of the School of Health Sciences at the University of New Haven in Connecticut, a Division II institution with more than 9,000 students, where she served as faculty from 2013 through 2021. Her time as dean was marked by significant growth, including the hiring of full-time faculty, the design and opening of a new health sciences building, 10 new degree programs including that university’s second doctoral program, and increased undergraduate and graduate enrollment. She led the university’s strategic planning committee and directed its COVID response team in addition to her duties as dean. 

McGee will succeed Fred Whitt, PhD, who has served as Lenoir-Rhyne’s president since 2017.

“The search committee made an outstanding choice for LR’s 13th president,” said current LR President Dr. Fred Whitt. “She is a rising star among private higher education leaders, and I am confident that Dr. McGee will successfully lead Lenoir-Rhyne into its next chapter. Her vision and commitment to excellence will undoubtedly strengthen our university and its mission, and I look forward to supporting her 100 percent and seeing Lenoir-Rhyne continue to thrive under her leadership.”

The appointment concludes a comprehensive and inclusive search process. The Board of Trustees formed an 18-member search committee comprised of faculty, staff, students and alumni, to lead the national search. The process included more than a dozen in-person listening sessions and an online survey to gather input on the desired qualities and qualifications of the next president. The search firm, Coleman Lew Canny Bowen, identified a robust applicant pool of more than 150 individuals. The search committee focused its intensive review on more than one dozen of the most highly qualified candidates, ultimately recommending McGee as the ideal leader to advance Lenoir-Rhyne’s mission.

A native of Wheatfield, Indiana, McGee earned bachelor’s degrees in philosophy and bioethics from Indiana University Bloomington, where she received the Henry B. Wells award, the institution’s highest honor for an undergraduate student. She then earned a Ph.D. in health policy and management from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is married to Dr. Glenn McGee, an academic who served for 31 years as a professor and academic administrator. She is a stepparent to their three adult sons, Ethan, Austin, and Aidan.