Brien Lewis, who will step down as Catawba's twenty-third president at the end of the 2019-2020 academic year, has been appointed to serve as the 27th President of Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky beginning July 1st.
Lewis shared the following announcement with the campus community on Tuesday, January 21st following news of the appointment by Transylvania University:
Dear Campus Community,
A few minutes ago Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky announced that I have been appointed to serve as its 27th President, beginning July 1st.
Laura and I feel very fortunate to have had the chance to engage in detailed conversations with several fine institutions. We are honored and excited that Transylvania has extended this invitation to us.
For those of you who don’t know much about the University, it was founded in 1780 and has a storied history as the oldest college west of the Alleghenies and the 16th oldest in the nation. Transylvania is ranked by U.S. News and World Report as one of the top 75 National Liberal Arts Colleges. Like Catawba, it is a small, undergraduate-focused institution with a dedicated faculty and staff committed to providing personal attention to their students. It has a beautiful, historic location in the heart of downtown Lexington, a new campus center set to open this fall, and an endowment of over $190 million. If you wish to learn more about Transylvania, you may be interested in this link.
Laura and I deeply appreciate the many expressions of support and encouragement we have received in the past few months from so many of you. I am especially grateful to the leadership team and to all of you who have been so generous with your time fielding reference calls and answering questions on my behalf.
As I noted last summer when I announced that this academic year would be my last at Catawba, our family has enjoyed our time here tremendously and we feel that the College has made a lot of progress. We look forward to working diligently with each of you during our remaining months here to strengthen Catawba, move the College forward, and prepare for a smooth transition with our successors.
As always, you have my admiration and appreciation for all you do for Catawba.
Sincerely,
Brien
