President Kathryn A. Morris

Kathryn A. Morris became the 19th president of St. Lawrence University on July 1, 2021. In her first two years, she led the campus out of the pandemic and outlined a strategic framework for propelling the University to future success.

President Morris has already raised millions of dollars in financial support for key elements of that vision, including increased programming and personnel to enhance community well-being and our new Center for the Environment, which launched in late 2023. Her Laurentian Impact initiative has fueled investment in the Center for Career Excellence to increase opportunities for students to connect with coaching, alumni mentors, research fellowships and internships—all with the goal of helping graduates find not just placements in jobs and graduate programs, but pathways in life that are personally meaningful to them, and that contribute to the greater good.

President Morris is advancing the University’s facilities enhancement initiative, a $30 million investment to significantly improve campus infrastructure with a focus on renovating residence halls and academic buildings while supporting sustainability and energy conservation. By prioritizing student spaces, this project will strengthen the living-learning experience for generations of students. President Morris has also been instrumental in providing vision and garnering support for the George W. Karpus ’68 Athletic Center at Appleton Arena, a donor-funded addition dedicated to Division III student-athletes.

Embracing her identity as a Laurentian, President Morris tirelessly seeks opportunities to immerse herself in those things that make a St. Lawrence education both meaningful and empowering. She has visited signature programs like the NYC semester and the Adirondack Semester, and made a trip to the Kenya Semester program to mark 50 years of the University’s many partnerships in and around Nairobi. She frequently attends academic events, Saints sporting events, and artistic performances on campus. President Morris has dedicated her career to higher education and chose to become a professor because she understood the impact of teaching and mentoring on students’ lives.

President Morris joined St. Lawrence following a distinguished career at Butler University, where she most recently served as the provost and vice president for Academic Affairs for more than eight years. Prior to her time as provost, President Morris was a professor of psychology and chair of that department at Butler. Her areas of expertise include social psychology, the psychology of gender, research methodology, and statistics. President Morris’ deep commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is evident in the leadership role she played with Butler’s 2014-2015 Presidential Commission on Diversity, as well as the adoption of a university-wide academic requirement, the campus programming she developed, and the National Science Foundation-funded research on prejudice reduction she enthusiastically pursued while a faculty member. President Morris was a charter member and the first president of Butler's chapter of Phi Beta Kappa and received numerous honors and awards during her time at Butler.

She earned both her master’s and Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Texas at Austin and her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Gettysburg College. She has served as a member of the board of trustees at her undergraduate alma mater since 2015.

President Morris is married to Brian Giesler, who is a member of the psychology department at St. Lawrence University. They have two children: a son, Logan, who graduated from Augustana College, and a daughter, Erin, a graduate of Butler University. Their dog, Comet, is a black lab mix rescue.