Susan Gould has announced her plans to retire from the position of Lakeland College registrar at the end of May.
She will retire in concurrence with her husband, President Stephen Gould.
A graduate of Lakeland’s undergraduate program, Susan began her career at Lakeland as a counselor in Lifelong Learning in 1979, and continued on in that position until 1992. At that time, she joined her husband at a fledgling Lakeland College Japan and taught English reading. She returned to the main campus after a year and was appointed by then-president David Black to serve as Lakeland’s registrar in 1993.
Susan said her responsibilities as registrar were to “make certain that all of the college’s academic policies and regulations are adhered to.”
She added that being registrar, in some ways, helped her better perform the role of President Gould’s wife.
“Because I know many of the students so well, I think I’ve had a little bit of an advantage in my relationship with the president in what I can bring to all of the activities in which he and I participate.
“I feel that he and I have made a good team. He’s someone whom I have profound respect for. I continue to be impressed with him. I get choked up as I say it, even. He’s a marvelous person. He loves this place and I do as well. It’s actually going to be hard for us to retire. It’s going to be bittersweet,” she said.
In interviews for the story in this issue about President Gould, several faculty members referred to him and Susan as a tandem.
“I love the combination of Steve and Susan,” said Lucretia Crawford, associate professor of English. “They’re sort of like Lakeland’s royalty.”
“For the time that he reigned as president, I can’t imagine another person capable of getting us through a really, really tough time,” Fessler Professor of Writing and Poet in Residence Karl Elder said of President Gould. “Some of that has to do with his wife, too. Because she loves the place, too. That’s really important. They love their work.”
Susan said Lakeland College means to her what it means to her husband.
“I know it sounds corny, but Steve always says, ‘It’s a place that is home.’ This community, every member of this community, matters to me and to Steve. There isn’t an aspect of the community that we don’t feel some connection to. No matter what, each one of us has a role. We feel so comfortable and so happy here, and it’s going to be hard to leave.”