By McCall Mash

As Westminster College welcomes its freshman class of 2019, it also welcomes a new president, Steve Morgan, a change that many students and faculty members are excited for. 

After former president, Dr. Brian Levin-Stankevich, announced his retirement from a two-year tenure in February 2015, Morgan became acting president. With the upcoming school year, he will officially take over. 

Morgan will be the college’s 18th president, and almost his entire professional career has been with the college. During the past 30 years he has served in positions such as business manager, director of administrative services, executive vice president and treasurer, vice president of institutional advancement and now president. 

Morgan has never had to apply for a job with Westminster, including his current position as president. This is something that Morgan is very proud of, and he attributes this to Westminster College wanting to give him an opportunity. In 1981, at 27 years old, the college offered him, then a young CPA, what he calls an opportunity “to come make a difference.” 

His job was to help Westminster College survive a pending bankruptcy. “Westminster had challenges in finance and they gave me an opportunity to fix it,” Morgan said. 

In 1981, Westminster College was facing a severe financial crisis including potential closure and bankruptcy. However, the college was able to overcome the financial strain and, with Morgan’s help the school restructured itself and was able to thrive once again. 

Morgan’s work with the college had helped to establish his credibility, and from there Morgan was offered promotions from the college, until he was eventually offered his current job as the president. 

“[The] most important thing we want to do is to support our students’ success. I want [Westminster] to be the students’ first choice,” Morgan said, which is why he is making student success his mission. Putting the students first isn’t always the easiest choice.

“Westminster is a small but complex organization; the most difficult part is trying to keep it personal in the complex world we live in and focusing on students and their success,” said Morgan. Despite the difficulty, Morgan is confident that he will be able to continue to support the success of his students

Christian Minton, a Westminster College student, is hopeful that Morgan will help to improve student success. “Westminster College does a lot right, but there is also a lot that they can improve on, like making student success even better, because some students haven’t enjoyed their time at Westminster and I would like to see that change,” Camp said. 

Many of the students feel as if Morgan and the college are already trying to put their success first and they are excited to see Morgan continue it.

“They definitely put [student success] up there, I mean, the retention rate is very high, so they are doing something right,” Angela Lam, a Westminster College student, said. 

However, Morgan has a large legacy to fulfill. During his 30 plus years working with the college, he has worked under six presidents, including C. David Cornell, James E. Peterson, Dr. Charles H. Dick, Dr. Peggy A. Stock, Dr. Michael S. Bassis and Dr. Brian Levin. From these predecessors, Morgan has been able to observe how to run the college, which includes making connections within the Sugar House community and surviving a financial crisis. 

Westminster students, such as Audrey Kriss, think that Morgan can successfully run the college because he has been around for so long. “I am really excited about the new president because he seems to love Westminster so much and he has been around a long time; even the professors are excited about how he is here. He really loves our school,” said Kriss.

Morgan will be inaugurated Saturday, September 26, 2015. You can RSVP tickets at www.westminstercollege.edu.