Mary Baldwin University president resigns: Jeff Stein had been on the job just two years

Mary Baldwin University President Jeff Stein is stepping down after just two years on the job.

We’re learning this today from emails sent by MBU Board of Trustees co-chairs Eloise Chandler and Constance Dierickx to faculty, staff and students at MBU, which has nearly 1,800 undergraduate and graduate students on its campuses in Staunton and Fishersville.

Todd Telemeco, the school’s vice president, has already been confirmed by the Board of Trustees as the school’s 11th president, an email that went out to the MBU community Wednesday morning reported.

Telemeco had served as MBU’s vice president and as the dean of the Murphy Deming School of Health Sciences for the past two years.

“We look forward to continuing to partner with Dr. Telemeco as he leads the University forward in ways that honor our long-held traditions and values; inspire personal, social, and intellectual growth; and fulfill our mission of empowering inclusive leaders to create lives of purpose and professional success – aims that are even more important in today’s changing world,” Chandler and Dierickx wrote in the Wednesday email.

There was nothing in either communication giving reasons for the abrupt departure of Stein, whose tenure as MBU’s 10th president began on July 1, 2023.

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ICYMI

• ‘Honored and humbled’: Mary Baldwin University names Dr. Jeff Stein as 10th president
• Mary Baldwin University to inaugurate Dr. Jeffrey Stein as 10th president
• Staunton: Mary Baldwin faces significant financial challenges, including staff cuts
• Mary Baldwin University sets path for future with focus on growth, innovation

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Stein had taken the reins from Pamela R. Fox, who had served as the president of the former all-women’s school for 20 years.

He came to MBU from Elon University, where he had served most recently as vice president for strategic initiatives & partnerships.

At his Oct. 18, 2024, inauguration, MBU announced the rollout of its “Elevate MBU” strategic plan, which was to define the university’s direction through 2030, with goals related to growth in undergraduate and graduate enrollment, online student enrollment, staff retention and donor commitments.

In advance of the inauguration, internal emails shared with AFP revealed the myriad challenges being faced by MBU, with the focus of the school’s leadership being on efforts at the top to try to reconcile flat revenues and increasing costs.

An Aug. 7, 2023, email from Stein pointed to numerous other schools facing similar challenges, including the University of New Orleans, Averett University, Wittenberg University and Lynchburg University.

“We are overhauling our financial practices for the sake of the university’s longer-term stability,” the 2023 email from Stein, directed to colleagues, states.

Other internal emails provided to AFP last year showed Mary Baldwin making strategic financial decisions due to “flat revenues, increasing costs and discount rates, and ongoing cash deficits – in addition to decreased enrollment due to changing demographics and the flawed federal FAFSA process.”

The university acknowledged to AFP last year that it was taking a series of cost-cutting measures, including selling property and reducing faculty and staff positions due to the hardship.

A source shared with AFP last fall, ahead of the Stein inauguration weekend, that there was a growing fear among some alums that MBU could be facing closure, sharing that faculty were leaving en masse due to deep cuts in benefits and salary.

“It’s a hot mess over there. If they stay open another five years, it will be a miracle,” the source said.

Against that backdrop, the focus of MBU officials today is on trying to put a positive spin on news that could be jarring.

“We thank Dr. Stein and his wife, Chrissy, for their two years of service to the University, and we wish them the best in their future endeavors,” Chandler and Dierickx wrote in the Wednesday email to the MBU community.

Later on, that email expressed “the Board’s utmost confidence” in Telemeco “as the University continues to provide dynamic, comprehensive education to help students navigate the challenges of our time.”

“In the coming weeks, the Board will be working closely with him to establish a plan and goals to help support a seamless leadership transition and further the University’s positive momentum as we begin another exciting academic year, the 184th in our institution’s storied history.”

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