By William Croyle
Enquirer contributor

CRESTVIEW HILLS - When E. Joseph Lee II took over the presidency of Thomas More College three years ago, he faced a $500,000 deficit and an accreditation warning from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Getting the finances in order and a strategic plan in place were his priorities. "We had to show the SACS folks that we had some vision," Lee said.

Now, with three straight years of balanced budgets and the warning tag removed, Lee said the school is the healthiest it's been in years. This year, the college is "as good as we were bad three years ago," he said.

That's one reason why Lee feels comfortable leaving.

The school's 12th president will resign May 31 and move back to New York to be with his wife, Christine, and three sons.

He will be succeeded on an interim basis by Sister Margaret Stallmeyer, a Thomas More alum, educator and member of the board of trustees. She'll hold the post until a permanent replacement is found. That's expected to be within the next year.

Lee, 60, was the vice president for student life at Manhattan College in New York before landing here in 2001.

During his tenure at Thomas More, the school built a $6 million residence hall (Murphy Hall), The Bank of Kentucky Observatory and secured money for a $1.8 million library renovation. But Lee said his legacy will probably be achieving financial stability and re-establishing accreditation.

"We just analyzed everything from top to bottom, and people had to pull together," Lee said.

He gives a lot of credit to alumni and corporations for generous donations the last three years. "It was a team effort."

Lee said through the strategic plan the school has controlled costs, set fund-raising goals, developed more programs in adult education and set realistic enrollment projections. Enrollment is one piece of unfinished business.

"The undergraduate enrollment is still not where we want it to be," he said. "Most of our students come from 30 to 50 miles away. We're trying to branch out to 100, 200, 300 miles away."

Enrollment today is 1,550 with about 800 of those full-time undergraduates. He said he'd like to see a campus of about 2,000 students with 1,000 full-time by 2007.

Dale Myers, vice president of academic affairs, praised Lee for his leadership role in the financial and accreditation issues. He said Lee is leaving behind a school heading in the right direction.

"He brought more stability to the college and has moved toward increasing enrollment, and we will continue in the direction of reaching out to students from farther out," Myers said.

Lee's family lived here his first year, but went back to New York in 2002. His youngest son, he said, has special needs that can be best met in Manhattan. He's seen his family an average of about once a month during the last two years.

Lee doesn't have a job lined up, but says he's not retiring.

"I'd like to stay in higher education," he said. "But I wouldn't have to be a president because my family comes first."

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E-mail williamcroyle@yahoo.com