www.union.edu/Presidents/
Eighteenth president of Union College, July, 1 2006
Stephen Charles Ainlay is the 18th president of Union College. A native of Goshen, Indiana, he earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology from Goshen College, and both his master’s and Ph.D. from Rutgers University.
Before joining Union, President Ainlay was vice president for academic affairs and dean, and professor of sociology at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. He joined the College of the Holy Cross in 1982 as assistant professor of sociology. He was promoted to associate professor in 1987, and to full professor in 1993. He was named dean of the college in 1996. Two years later, he was promoted to vice president for academic affairs and dean.
President Ainlay is a sociologist with a distinguished record as a scholar, teacher and administrator.
His research projects have focused on investigations of blindness, aging, spirituality and various aspects of Mennonite life, all aimed at better understanding the ways in which people find meaning in their lives.
His books include Day Brought Back My Night: Aging and Vision Loss; Mennonite Entrepreneurs (co-authored with Calvin Redekop and Robert Siemans); The Dilemma of Difference: A Multidisciplinary View of Stigma (co-edited with Gaylene Becker and Lerita Coleman); and Making Sense of Modern Times: Peter L. Berger and the Vision of Interpretive Sociology (co-edited with James Davison Hunter).
He has published a number of articles and book reviews related to his research areas in such journals as the Journal of Social Issues, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, and the Journal of Gerontology. He is a frequent presenter at conferences of scholars and academic administrators.
He has served as a board member and vice chair of the American Conference of Academic Deans. He has served on the Chief Academic Officers Committee of the Colleges of Worcester Consortium and on the Consortium’s Board. He also has served on the Board of the Lilly Fellows Program.
He has served on a number of community boards, including the Board of Incorporators for the Age Center of Worcester, the Advisory Board for the Executive Office of Elder Affairs for the City of Worcester, the Council on Aging for the Town of Holden, the Worcester Office of the Massachusetts Association for the Blind, the Audio-Journal-Radio Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and the Educational Advisory Board of Worcester Home Care Services. He was awarded the Jaycees Outstanding Young Leader Award.
Among his fellowships, he was a visiting scholar at St. Edmund’s College in Cambridge University; and summer fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences in Palo Alto, Calif. He also held a post-doctoral fellowship at Princeton University’s Mental Health Training Program.
He is married to Judith Gardner Ainlay. They have two sons, Jesse, a 2005 graduate of College of the Holy Cross, and Jonathan, a student at the University of Arizona.
Image courtesy of Union College, Office of Communications