It is hard to overstate the formidable and urgent task that Dan Sullivan faced when he became the 17th president of St. Lawrence University in July 1996.
To strengthen the university and its competitive standing, he needed, among other things, to increase fundraising, increase the number of students applying for admission, increase the number of entering students, improve graduation rates, and renovate an aging physical plant and construct new facilities, including a student center, student townhouses and a state-of-the-art science center.