Dr. Linda M. LeMura became the 14th president of Le Moyne College in Syracuse, N.Y., on July
1, 2014. She is the first female layperson to ascend to the presidency of a Jesuit institution in the
United States. Since becoming president, her accomplishments include: completion of a strategic
plan titled Sempre Avanti (Always Forward), which starts by reinforcing Le Moyne’s Ignatian roots as it sets the foundation for the next five years; naming of the Purcell School of
Professional Studies; launching of master's programs in Occupational Therapy and Family Nurse
Practitioner; the rollout of the new Greatness meets Goodness branding campaign; completion of
the renovation of the Coyne Science Center; the receipt of grants through New York's Regional
Economic Development Council, used to construct the Quantitative Reasoning Center; the
addition of the College’s first doctoral program; and, the launch of the Manresa program that
prepares all students to develop meaningful career pathways, a central initiative in Sempre
Avanti. During her time as president, the College has experienced five consecutive record-
breaking fundraising years and several students have earned scholarships through the prestigious
Fulbright and Boren Programs. She has also overseen the second largest (2019) and third largest
(2018) classes in the College’s history. The College continues to receive national recognition by
US World and News Report, the Princeton Review, the Carnegie Foundation for the
Advancement of Teaching, the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll,
Money Magazine, and was ranked by College Choice as one of the best Catholic colleges in the
U.S.
Before being named president, Dr. LeMura served for seven years as the College’s provost and
vice president for academic affairs. In that capacity, she played a pivotal role in the revision of
the College’s Core curriculum, the establishment of the Madden School of Business, and the
renovation and expansion of Le Moyne’s science facilities. She joined the College in 2003 as Dean of arts and sciences. Prior to Le Moyne, she served as a professor, graduate program
director and associate dean at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. Her research interests
include pediatric obesity, pediatric applied physiology, lipid and energy metabolism, and she has
taught anatomy and physiology, bioethics and the biology of aging. She has been a research
consultant for the U.S. and the Italian Olympic Committees and is the author of 33 peer-
reviewed manuscripts, 26 grant proposals, and a textbook translated into multiple languages.
A Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine, she has served on the boards of the
Council of Independent Colleges and Universities, CenterState CEO, College of the Holy Cross,
the Mission and Identity Advisory Committee of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and
Universities, Regional Economic Development Council in Central New York, the Executive
Committee of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, Syracuse 20/20, Syracuse
Symphony, the Northeast 10 athletic conference executive committee, the Everson Museum, and
the Syracuse International Film Festival. She was recently named a founding delegate of the
International Association of Jesuit Universities.
A summa cum laude graduate of Niagara University, she received an M.S. and Ph.D. in applied
physiology from Syracuse University. She and her husband, Dr. Lawrence Tanner, a professor of
environmental systems science at Le Moyne, have a daughter, Emily.