40 years a college president!

Emmanuel College President Janet Eisner, left, with Emmanuel College honorary degree recipient and commencement speaker historian Doris Kearns Goodwin on May 17.

From The New England Council (newenglandcouncil.com)

“Sister Janet Eisner, president of Emmanuel College is celebrating her 40th year in that role, making her the longest serving female college president in the United States.

Under Sister Janet’s leadership, Emmanuel College, in Boston, has undergone significant growth. The school marks it centennial in 2019 with 2,000 full-time undergraduates and twice the full-time faculty it had in 2000. In 2000, when the school was facing an uncertain future, she arranged for the pharmaceutical company Merck to lease land on the campus for $50 million. This allowed the school to build new dormitories, which coincided with decision to admit male students.

Explaining what makes Emmanuel different from other schools, Sister Janet said, ‘Each year I ask the senior class: What would you never want to see changed about us? What would you like to see changed? And what are you going to take with you? Every year, the answer is: Never lose the strong sense of community that we feel here. We work together. We welcome others. We can talk about anything here.”’

Science center at Emmanuel College.