Champlain College Names Laurie Quinn of N.H. as Provost and Chief Academic Officer

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Provost Laurie Quinn

BURLINGTON, VT (07/30/2014)(readMedia)-- Laurie Quinn will begin as Champlain College's provost and chief academic officer on Friday, August 1. Quinn comes to Champlain from Granite State College in Concord, NH, where she was provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. Granite State College is part of the University System of New Hampshire.

"Laurie has demonstrated the ability to build strong relationships and to champion the needs of faculty," Champlain President Donald J. Laackman wrote in a campus-wide email announcement earlier this month. "Laurie has a strong understanding of Champlain and a passion for our mission. I am thrilled with the opportunity to work with an educator who brings with her the experience that will help us achieve the ambitious goals of our Champlain 2020 strategy," he continued.

Quinn said she is looking forward to fostering innovation at Champlain, adding, "I believe Champlain's integration of liberal education with professional studies is a model for colleges in preparing students for challenging careers and meaningful lives."

She earned her B.A. and M.A. at Boston College, and holds a Ph.D. from the University of New Hampshire in English Literature.

Quinn succeeds Robin Abramson of South Burlington, who served in the position since 2007. Abramson stepped down at the end of June and plans to return to teaching in 2015 at Champlain after a yearlong sabbatical.

Before Granite State College, Quinn served as senior program director at the New Hampshire Humanities Council, where she was a generalist scholar and researcher, oversaw the community grants program, and made proposals to foundations with an interest in helping to advance diverse initiatives.

Champlain's "radically pragmatic" approach to education is what first attracted her to the College, and she is looking forward working with faculty to ensure Champlain College becomes the finest small, professionally and globally focused college in the United States.

She is joined by her husband Peter Sutherland and son Patrick. The family will live in Burlington.

About Champlain College

Since 1878, Champlain College has provided career-focused education to students from its hilltop campus in Burlington, Vt. Champlain's distinctive educational approach embodies the notion that true learning only occurs when information and experience come together to create knowledge. Champlain offers traditional undergraduate and online undergraduate courses, along with online certificate and degree programs and 11 master's degree programs. Champlain offers study abroad programs at its campuses in Montreal, Quebec and Dublin, Ireland. Champlain College is included in the Princeton Review's The Best 378 Colleges: 2014 Edition. Champlain was named a "Top-Up-and-Coming School" by U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Colleges and is ranked in the top tier of 2014 Regional Colleges in the North. For more information, visit www.champlain.edu.