Lois B. DeFleur (born June 25, 1936) was president of

Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university with campuses in Binghamton, New York, Binghamton, Vestal, New York, Vestal, and Johnson City, New Yor ...

from 1990 to 2010. She came to the university after being provost at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

. Before that she had served as a

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

Missouri State University Missouri State University (MSU or MO State), formerly Southwest Missouri State University, is a public university in Springfield, Missouri. Founded in 1905 as the Fourth District Normal School, it is the state's second largest university by enr ...

and

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant unive ...

. She has a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

in sociology from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

. She studied

juvenile delinquency Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is the act of participating in unlawful behavior as a minor or individual younger than the statutory age of majority. In the United States of America, a juvenile delinquent is a person ...

in Latin America and has done extensive work in the fields of deviant behavior and occupational socialization. DeFleur became the president at

in 1990, making her the longest serving president of the university to date. She resigned in disgrace at the end of July 201

after being implicated in the

Binghamton University basketball scandal The Binghamton University basketball scandal refers to a series of incidents that occurred as Binghamton University compromised its integrity in order to make the Bearcats men's basketball program more competitive in Division I. Numerous Bingha ...

DeFleur at Binghamton

A few of the events occurring under her administration: * Began an aggressive fundraising campaign, more than doubling giving for multiple consecutive years. * Moved athletics to Division I from Division III, changing the school's mascot from the Colonial to the Bearcat. * Binghamton's publications rankings increased (although some have declined drastically in recent years, such as overall ranking in the Princeton Review). * Reorganized schools at Binghamton: the College of Community and Public Affairs and the School of Education were created July 1, 2006, from the former School of Education and Human Development. * Funded construction of over more than a dozen new buildings, including a new residence community, university union addition, events center, academic complex and the new Downtown University Center. * The University’s endowment has risen from approximately $8 million to $64.5 million. * Faculty research awards have increased 60 percent. * Binghamton completed its first-ever comprehensive gifts campaign more than a year early, and at 121 percent of its goal. * Binghamton was designated a New York State Center of Excellence in 2006. * Announced retirement weeks before major scandal involving the basketball team was revealed to the public. *University was not included in rankings and lists of most competitive colleges (such as BARRON'S GUIDE TO THE MOST COMPETITIVE COLLEGES) but included as a Best Buy.; * Implicated for ethical violations that had been hinted at throughout her tenure as university president but which were clearly described in the Kaye Report;

Retirement

DeFleur resigned after being implicated in the

in July 2010 to focus on her personal life.

Criticisms

* Although the state ethics commission has never accused DeFleur of wrongdoing, some question the propriety of DeFleur sitting on boards of companies that do millions of dollars in business with the university that she oversees. For years, she was on the board of Energy East, in which she had held more than half a million dollars in stock. She is also a paid adviser to M&T Bank, a financial institution that has long had sole rights to operate on the Binghamton campus.

References

External links

Binghamton profile of DeFleur

Past Winners of Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education
{{DEFAULTSORT:Defleur, Lois B. 1936 births Living people Binghamton University faculty Blackburn College (Illinois) alumni Indiana University alumni Presidents of Binghamton University University of Missouri faculty University of Illinois College of Liberal Arts and Sciences alumni