Kevin J. Manning

Kevin J. Manning (born November 8, 1944, in New York, New York) is the former president of Stevenson University, the former Villa Julie College and the third largest independent university in Maryland. He was inaugurated as the fourth president of Villa Julie College on October 28, 2000, succeeding Carolyn Manuszak. He resigned from Stevenson University on November 29, 2016.

Academic career Manning has more than 40 years of experience in higher education administration. A graduate of Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri (1967), Manning earned his M.S. in Counseling and Student Personnel from Shippensburg University (1976) and his Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from The Ohio State University (1982). He is a graduate of Harvard University’s Institute for Educational Management (1989) and in 2006 was an invited participant at the Oxford Round Table, University of Oxford, England. Prior to his service at Stevenson, Manning held key administrative positions at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri; Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania; and Immaculata University in Malvern, Pennsylvania.

Manning has spent his career focused on what constitutes effective learning. He has spoken and written frequently about the effectiveness of education for career preparation and on the use of theory, practice, and mentoring as effective forms of training. Manning has focused on growing the 100-plus acre Owings Mills campus by adding additional residences, a student community center, a dining and student center, the Brown School of Business and Leadership, the Caves Sports and Wellness Center, a Gymnasium, and Mustang Stadium to host the university's field sports. In 2009, he announced that Stevenson would be adding football to its roster of NCAA Division III sports programs. In November 2011, Manning oversaw the purchase of the Shire Plc property in Owings Mills, Maryland, which increased the Owings Mills campus by 29 acres of land and 170,000 square feet of laboratory, classroom, and office space.

In addition to facilities, Manning has focused on adding undergraduate academic programs that enhance the university's career-focused mission as well as expanding Stevenson's School of Graduate and Professional Studies, which offers onsite and online bachelor's and master's degrees in areas such as nursing, healthcare management, cyber forensics, forensic studies, forensic science, criminal justice, business and technology management, and paralegal studies. In March 2009, Manning approved a university restructuring plan for the formal creation of the university's six schools led by deans: the Brown School of Business and leadership; the School of Design; the School of Education; the School of Humanities and Social Sciences; the School of the Sciences; and the School of Graduate and Professional Studies.

Manning's presidency has played a pivotal role in building Stevenson University's reputation as a national leader in career education. He was also named an "Influential Marylander" three times by the editorial board of the Daily Record (Maryland) business and legal newspaper, and was admitted to the paper's "Circle of Influence" award winners in March 2015. In June 2012, Manning was appointed by Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley to the Governor's P-20 Leadership Council of Maryland. In 2013, he was appointed chair of the Maryland Independent College and University Association.