from left to right: Dr. Shirley Pippins; Dr. Shirley Strum Kenny; Lisa Pamintuan; Sr. Elizabeth Hill

16 March 2004 Business LI
By Erin Harrington-Plonski
Photography by Elizabeth Glasgow

While women remain in the minority amongst higher education presidents, four Long Island institutions have placed women in the highest position of power.

At the head of the class are Dr. Shirley Strum Kenny, Stony Brook University; Sister Elizabeth Hill, St. Joseph's College; Lisa Pamintuan, New York College of Health Professions; and Dr. Shirley Pippins of Suffolk Community College. While they face a myriad of different challenges, they share many missions in common, not the least of which, effectively running schools of higher education as women amongst a huge constituency of men.

As Sr. Elizabeth Hill of St. Joseph's explains, female college presidents are still in the minority, but are getting a bit more numerous. "If you were to go to a meeting of a Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities, as I go to, I am sometimes one of four or five women in a room of 50 or 60 people. It's interesting, but I don't even think about it anymore. My first year or two, I was a little self-conscious about it. But the men treat us as colleagues and, I think, we all have a great mutual respect. Our mission is shared at a very deep level and we're all interested in the issues and learning methods of coping with our challenges."

Now in her seventh year as president of the college, Sr. Elizabeth adds, "St. Joseph's College has a long and rich tradition of liberal arts. For us, one of the main emphases is to maintain that tradition because we believe it is the best foundation for lifelong learning, for a rich life in which you can really explore and enjoy the diversity of human interests - the arts, music, literature, science and philosophy and everything that makes us human. We really want our students to be caught up in a quest for learning and that love of learning. At the same time, we recognize that most of our students come from families where the luxury of just going to college is not available. Students have to work; they work long and hard hours and much of their focus in their college preparation is for a career. So we have to honor and respect that component, as well."

The rewards of her work are great, as well, and seeing the students succeed ranks among the highest. "Graduation day is probably the happiest of all. There's nothing more rewarding than seeing a student who has struggled a little bit walk across the stage with such pride. We're not here to build buildings. We're not here to compete. We're here to help each student achieve the personal and professional goals that they've set for themselves, and when you see them taking that first step, it's the happiest thing that could happen to us."

Dr. Shirley Pippins, who assumed her post this past November as president of Suffolk Community College - host to some 21,000 students - has her own set of challenges. "The greatest challenge is achieving excellence with limited resources," she notes. "Also, you operate in a climate of public scrutiny, and we are public officials and work with the public's funds, so we have to be responsible and accountable. But it's a challenge to operate in that environment. The most rewarding part is the ability to make a difference - that if you feel strongly about something, you might actually be able to do something about it. People actually listen to what you have to say. I also find it rewarding to be able to inspire and help other women, both women in general and women in higher education. And, the same is true in terms of working with people of color. I feel honored to be a role model and to be able to support them in their efforts."

Pippins goes on to point out that women have always been involved in education. "In some ways, it's been a place for us. It's been okay for us to be teachers and social workers and nurses. But now, you see women pushing through that glass ceiling that stood in the way of them being leaders in their own areas." As for her mission at SCC,she adds,"it's a great institution. I feel really good about what I've learned here and one of my challenges is letting everybody know what a wonderful institution this is."

Dr. Shirley Strum Kenny, who's presided over Stony Brook University since 1994, also has an ambitious agenda. "Stony Brook has always been a remarkable research institution,"she says. "But it was not always a great one for undergraduate education. My first focus is on making undergraduate education as fine as the graduate research."

With approximately 13,000 undergraduate students enrolled, Kenny voices that she wants the university to be among the top institutions of the country, which it is. (Stony Brook University is among the Association of American Universities, which represents the top 63 research universities in the country, both public and private.) "I want to keep pushing higher. I also want Stony Brook to be a place that makes an important connection with their students; that serves the community well and is an essential part of life on Long Island and makes life here better."

Also extraordinary in its endeavors is the New York College of Health Professions, formerly the New York College for Holistic Health, Education and Research, located in Syosset. Named as its president last year was Lisa Pamintuan, who brings to the college a vision for expanded awareness of what used to be considered complimentary alternative medicine. "It really is now integrated medicine," she notes, "and, we're one of the first colleges of our kind to be working with the western hospitals. We are in Bellevue; we are in other hospitals on Long Island and are going into Manhattan and teaching western medical practitioners what we know and what we're teaching our students."

In an institutional environment where the faculty has a voice and the students have a voice and there are a lot of things going on, Pamintuan concedes that you have to determine the best overall way to propel the school's mission, regardless of gender. "I am well qualified to do my job," she states. "Whether it's walking into a boardroom full of men or women, it's the confidence level that women now have that they know that they can do the job and go toe-to-toe. I don't think women before knew they had that option or were given that option. I grew up in tennis (see "The Road to the Presidency" for more on Pamintuan's background) where it didn't matter if you were a man or a woman; it mattered that you were a good tennis player. That's how you were identified. So I was very fortunate. I never thought there was something I couldn't do. If someone told me I couldn't do something, that was a challenge. I'd say, 'I'm going to do it.'

I look at my younger sister and some of her friends and they don't have some of the hang-ups, per se, that people from my generation or my mother's had. And that's great. I think it's important not to forget what's happened in the past. I'm going back to things that I know because that's how I grew up. Billie Jean King opened the door for women's sports and now look at it. You've got women playing professional golf and tennis and those inroads had to be made. And it's important that you don't quit. If something happened and I hit a ceiling, it's important that I keep striving and go for the goals I want."

Leading the way to educate is a daunting task for anyone, male or female, so kudos to these four female visionaries who aspire to great things for those that pass through the doors of their colleges and universities in the hopes of achieving higher learning, understanding and goals unlimited.