Presidential Inauguration Program

19th President of the College Dr. James M. MacLaren 19th President, Lebanon Valley College Dr. James M. MacLaren, an award-winning physicist and passionate advocate for student success, became Lebanon Valley College’s 19th president in July 2020.

Despite the vast challenges of the pandemic, the LVC community achieved many milestones during MacLaren’s first 15 months, including enrolling the largest-ever first-year class and expanding graduate and professional studies enrollment. Academic affairs launched a new Bachelor of Nursing Program, a Master of Science in Intelligence and Security Studies, and certificates in Trauma-informed Counseling, Sport Enhancement, and several education certificates. Recently, MacLaren created a centralized organizational framework for diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts and named Dr. Felicia Brown-Haywood as LVC’s first associate vice president of diversity, equity, inclusion, and institutional success—a cabinet-level position. All the while he led a COVID-19 pandemic response to keep campus open and classes in person. In March of 2021, University Business published his op-ed, “Hurricane Katrina taught us to be nimble and hopeful, and we need that resilience now.”

MacLaren has initiated a collaborative strategic planning process to identify the College’s priorities for the next three to five years and establish a vision of becoming the regional leader in higher education, known for offering high-quality academic and co-curricular programs in a personalized, inclusive environment that emphasizes career success and personal well-being. Upon its approval by the faculty and Board of Trustees, Imagine LVC will provide a unifying mission and values with concrete action steps for The Valley to thrive in the future.

President MacLaren and his wife, Gina, who was born in Memphis but lived most of her life in New Orleans, have been married for 27 years. Emily and Meg, their two oldest daughters, are graduates of Tulane University. Their youngest, Caroline, is a junior at Villanova University. The family lives on campus in the historic Kreiderheim.

Before Lebanon Valley College President MacLaren arrived at LVC after serving as provost of St. Xavier University in Chicago, Ill. At St. Xavier, a Hispanic-serving Catholic university, MacLaren oversaw the academic enterprise, including the College of Arts and Sciences, the Graham School of Management, and the School of Nursing and Health Sciences, as well as graduate admissions, instructional design and technology, the library, and summer programs. He led the university in securing the largest federal award to St. Xavier, a $3 million Title V grant from the United States Department of Education to increase firstyear retention and graduation rates.

Born in London, MacLaren earned a bachelor’s and master of arts in natural sciences from Churchill College at the University of Cambridge, U.K. He went on to study the electronic properties of catalyst surfaces at Imperial College, London, earning a Ph.D. in condensed matter physics. His research focused on the electronic structure of materials, particularly layered magnetic materials.

His collaborative work demonstrated that spin-dependent tunneling between two epitaxial layers of iron separated by magnesium oxide could lead to a remarkably sensitive read head for magnetic hard drives. The United States Department of Energy recognized that work with an Outstanding Scientific Accomplishment in Metallurgy and Ceramics Award in 1995. MacLaren has published a combined 150 peer-reviewed articles, reviews, and books and presented 22 invited