Lindsay chosen as Elmira College president

Elmira College has chosen a familiar face to serve as its 15th president.

Charles Lindsay of Horseheads, who currently serves as the college's provost, will assume his new role July 1, the college announced Friday afternoon. Lindsay will succeed Norman Smith, who has served as acting interim president since September 2015.

“I’m honored to have been selected and am excited about the College’s future," Lindsay said in a statement. "Our recent elevation to a national top tier status, along with the College’s long standing position as a Phi Beta Kappa institution, well positions Elmira for continued success and I will very much enjoy helping make that happen in the coming years."

Lindsay came to Elmira College in 2012 from Bryn Athyn College in suburban Philadelphia, where he served as dean of the college for 14 years. He is a graduate of Lafayette College and Lehigh University and earned his doctorate degree in higher education at the University of Pennsylvania, where he also completed post-graduate work in finance and accounting at the Wharton School of Business.

Faculty leaders unanimously recommended Lindsay's appointment to the college's board of trustees, according to the college. In a statement, Board Chairman Robert Morris said trustees were pleased that progress made under Smith's leadership could continue uninterrupted with a new president from within the college.

"Dr. Lindsay and President Smith have overseen more improvements at the College in the past year or so than had been realized in the prior five or six years, especially in areas of finance and enrollment along with the College’s first full-compliance accreditation in two decades," Morris said. "Dr. Lindsay’s succession will ensure we continue on the successful track we are now on.”

Faculty leaders called Lindsay an enthusiastic and collaborative leader who had earned the faculty's respect and trust, and Smith offered his own praise for his successor.

“Part of my job at Elmira was to help assemble a leadership team that could take the college into a flourishing future and Dr. Lindsay couldn’t be better suited for that undertaking," Smith said.

Lindsay and his wife, Janna, have three grown daughters. The couple will relocate to Grandt House, the college's presidential residence on Euclid Avenue in Elmira, in the coming months.

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