At St. Mary's, Baenninger touts fundraising, college leadership

Defends leaving post at St. Benedict

Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009

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MaryAnn Baenninger, the third of four presidential finalists to visit St. Mary's College of Maryland this month, said she is hoping to return to the East Coast and would like to use her fundraising experience to make the college more visible.

Baenninger, 53, has served since 2004 as the president of the College of St. Benedict in Minnesota, a private women's Catholic college with about 1,800 students. The liberal arts college is near St. Cloud, Minn., and is nearly 100 years old.

"There's a similar ethos to St. Mary's," she said at a forum on campus Sept. 24.

She said that she will quickly learn to work with state politicians to benefit the campus, but will draw on her private fundraising experience and love of liberal arts if chosen to lead St. Mary's College.

Baenninger was a first-generation college student from her family. She has two children, who she said attended public colleges, and three grandchildren.

A good liberal arts education is often associated with private colleges, she said, but St. Mary's breaks that mold as a public institution.

One student asked about how Baenninger would deal with impending budget cuts from the state.

St. Mary's College has a block grant funded each year from the state but also relies on fundraising through endowments and other sources.

"I do know how to fundraise for annual gifts and public philanthropy" as well as public grants, she said. She said she has worked some with the Minnesota state legislature and governor to secure state scholarships for her campus.

"I really don't want to leave St. Ben's. I really love St. Ben's. But there are some times in your life where you have to make a choice," she said. "It's the right thing for the college and this is the right thing for me."

Baenninger was one of three finalists last year for president at Ithaca College in New York before dropping out of the running. She said she stayed at St. Benedict's in part to finish a fundraising campaign and strategic plan; her contract expires at the end of this academic year.

Baenninger sent a letter Sept. 14 to her colleagues at St. Benedict that said her name would likely surface at several colleges where she has applied for positions. She wrote that she wanted to move to the East Coast to be closer to her family and her husband, Ron Baenninger, who is battling "serious, but operable, illness" and is in Philadelphia awaiting surgery and anticipating a long recovery period.

"This is an agonizing decision for me, but I feel that I must explore options that will place Ron and me within driving distance of family, so that they can come to visit us on a regular basis," she wrote. 

Because of an "unprecedented and unexpected number of presidential opportunities," for the next academic year at liberal arts colleges on the East Coast, she said she decided to apply and was selected as a candidate for several. She said in the letter she will stay at St. Benedict's through the remainder of this school year.

Adam Werblow, waterfront director and college sailing coach, said many of the trustees, faculty and others associated with St. Mary's College have a long commitment to the college, and asked if there was a contradiction in her withdrawal from the Ithaca search last year and the letter posted to the St. Benedict's community this month.

While responding Baenninger became visibly upset, but said that her commitment to St. Benedict's was never long term and that she was now looking for a place to serve the rest of her career.

She said if selected to lead St. Mary's College she would welcome people from the communities outside of campus to give input and to meet with her. "I wish I could have been involved more directly with the community" at St. Benedict's, she said, adding that the trustees had charged her with of promoting a more national focus for the small private campus.

Asked her thoughts on the increased testing in schools, Baenninger said, "I do not like the standardization at the K-through-12 level. I think it's wrong. And, I think liberal arts institutions are the answer to that."

She has served as associate professor of psychology at The College of New Jersey and as a faculty member at Philadelphia University in Philadelphia and Washington College in Chestertown.

The other presidential finalists are Katherine Conway-Turner, James Bacchus and Joseph Bruno. A decision could be made during a college trustee meeting on Oct. 3, although it is unlikely it would be announced until a contract is finalized.

jyeatman@somdnews.com

To weigh in

Community members and others can give feedback on the presidential finalists for St. Mary's College of Maryland to the board of trustees via the board's secretary,

Tom Botzman, by e-mail at tjbotzman@smcm.edu.