President Jim Dlugos announces retirement

From President Dlugos’ message to the Saint Joseph’s College community:

In the concluding chapter of Walden, Thoreau wrote, “I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there. Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more time for that one.”

Today, I’m sharing the news of my decision to retire from the presidency of Saint Joseph’s College at the end of the current academic and fiscal year.

But, unlike Henry David, my next life will allow me to spend more time on what has emerged over the past three years as a central focus of my work to support Saint Joseph’s College: growing connections across Mercy Higher Education.

Small schools like Saint Joseph’s and the 16 other institutions sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy are an essential and endangered part of the American higher education ecosystem. I have been working on ways we can increase inter-institutional collaborations that can strengthen our institutions and amplify the wonderful outcomes and learning experiences that we provide to our Mercy learners.

From shared services like professional search to shared Mercy-centric programming in areas such as career development and curricular innovation, collaborating with those who have common values and commitments has the potential to transform what we do, how we do it, and what we can accomplish.

The time and energy that I have been able to commit to this project has been limited by the realities of my work as the president of Saint Joseph’s. And the always-full agenda of a president has been complicated even further by nearly three years of helping navigate the institution through the pandemic.

This next life will allow me to commit the time and energy necessary to help Saint Joseph’s and others begin to realize the potential of inter-institutional collaboration. And it will allow me to stay connected with and work to support this special community to which I’ve dedicated myself for the past decade.

It will also allow me to spend more time with Melissa, Matthew, and Sophie as our family continues to explore the wider community of Maine, growing and thriving in the place we call home.

I have told our Board of Trustees that I will always be available to assist the College in whatever way I can – from telling our wonderful story, to supporting our advancement work, to anything in between that the next President and the College’s leadership would ask of me.

Sharing this news now will allow the College to conduct a full and orderly search for the 15th President who will carry forward the wonderful energy and commitment that has always been at the heart of Saint Joseph’s College. You will be hearing more from Jeff Moody, our Board Chair, in the coming days about this process.

Thank you again for all that you do everyday to make Saint Joseph’s the special place it is and for the privilege of having served as the College’s President for the past decade. And I look forward to a new role as a member of this wonderful community. Once a Monk, always a Monk!

Best wishes,
Jim

From Jeff Moody, Chair, Saint Joseph’s College of Maine Board of Trustees:

On behalf of the Board of Trustees, it is with mixed emotions that I announce the retirement of Dr. Jim Dlugos at the end of the 2022/2023 academic year.

Jim is now in his eleventh year as president of Saint Joseph’s College of Maine – a longer tenure than most of his peers these days – and in his 34th year in higher education. While he is retiring from an operating role at Saint Joe’s, Jim plans to turn his focus to working to advance Mercy higher education more broadly. We know this new role will continue to benefit our College, and he and his family will stay a stone’s throw away in Windham.

Jim’s typical thoughtfulness and foresight now give us almost a full academic year to find and bring on board an outstanding individual who will build on our great foundation, and to thank him for his outstanding service to Saint Joe’s. I want to recognize in particular that Jim has built an especially strong leadership team and faculty, including some outstanding recent additions.

This team gives the board great confidence that we will continue to build on our current successes: first-year enrollment growth of over 30% versus last year; the addition of new Sustainable Hospitality and Community Health programs ready to launch in 2022/23; an athletic department that is stronger than ever with multiple conference titles to defend, and the state-of-the-art Arnold Center for Nursing Innovation, on track to open late this academic year. We were also recently recognized by US News and World Report for excellence in regional programs, nursing, and economic mobility.

This momentum keeps our promise that we are the College where community grows. We are very confident that our unique community of great students, faculty, staff, families, alumni, partners, and donors – united by our core Mercy values and beautiful campus – will enable us to attract an exceptional new “head Monk” to fill Jim’s sizable shoes. It is this combination of strong community and strong leadership that will sustain Saint Joseph’s College of Maine through its next 111 years.