Marilee Lindemann, English professor and founding director of this university’s first formal LGBT studies program, took over as the executive director of the College Park Scholars program in July.
This university’s College Park Scholars program is entering its 20th year this fall, and it’s getting a new head administrator, too.
On July 1, Marilee Lindemann took the helm as the executive director of the program, which accepted its largest incoming class to date for the upcoming academic year.
The English professor and founding director of this university’s first formal LGBT studies program replaced Greig Stewart, who retired after directing the living-learning program for 12 years.
The LGBT studies program, established in 2002, grew under Lindemann’s direction. During Lindemann’s tenure, the program expanded course offerings, brought in more faculty, developed a consortium of universities in the area that participate in a symposium every spring, among other things, said Donna Hamilton, dean of undergraduate studies.
“She was a great advocate and a great champion of the program,” Hamilton said.
Although Lindemann thoroughly enjoyed helping build and expand the university’s LGBT studies, she saw the opportunity of directing Scholars, a program of considerable size and complexity, as incredibly enticing.
“The whole concept of it was really exciting to me,” Lindemann said. “I liked the idea of interdisciplinary living-learning communities for freshman and sophomore students, the commitment to what we call intentional community, research opportunities and service opportunities that Scholars makes available to students.”
Hamilton is confident that Lindemann will excel as head administrator of Scholars, which is welcoming an estimated 1,000 new students this year to its 12 different programs, including the newest community: Justice and Legal Thought.
“She’s a very high-energy person, and she’s very collegial,” Hamilton said. “She’s also a great public speaker and writer; those are wonderful things to have in a major leadership position like College Park Scholars.”
Charles Caramello, associate academic affairs provost and graduate school dean and a former English department colleague of Lindemann’s, also spoke highly of both her administrative and scholastic caliber.
“Marilee is an outstanding scholar, teacher and citizen and contributed significantly to the English department in all three areas,” Caramello said. “Her work has raised the English department’s national profile and reputation in the field.”
As executive director, Lindemann’s responsibilities will include oversight, management, advocating for the program, working on admissions and recruitment, working with directors and their individual programs and continuing to take things in creative directions.
While the prospects of new projects and plans have crossed her mind, Lindemann’s main focus at the moment is a smooth transition into the program.
“It would be premature at this point to have a particular path or agenda in mind,” Lindemann said. “Short term, my goals are to get to know the program, do a lot of listening and spending time with the individual programs and getting to know the students.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Due to a reporting error, a previous version of this article misidentified Marilee Lindemann’s title. This story has been updated to reflect the correction.
