In Memoriam: Joan Leitzel, UNH's 17th President, Passes Away at 89

Joan Leitzel, who served as UNH’s 17th president from 1996 to 2002 and is remembered by those who worked with her as a distinguished leader and compassionate colleague, passed away March 5, 2026, at the age of 89. 

Leitzel maintained strong connections to UNH in the decades after her retirement. She remained an active member of the UNH Foundation emeriti board of directors by serving on two committees: The Hubbard Award for Service to Philanthropy selection committee and The International Changemaker Grant committee. 

Milne Special Collections and University Archives, Dimond Library, University of New Hampshire, Durham, N.H.

 

She also helped create the Joan and James Leitzel Center for Mathematics, Science, and Engineering Education at UNH, which over the last two decades has excelled in blending the boundaries between research and teaching and has worked to sustain and strengthen partnerships with local K-12 schools and research communities. 

Leitzel and her family also have a scholarship fund at UNH – the James Leitzel Scholarship Fund – named in memory of James R.C. Leitzel, Joan’s husband and a professor of mathematics. The scholarship was established in 1998, shortly after his passing. 

“Joan Leitzel leaves a strong legacy as a revered and committed leader and beloved member of the UNH community,” says UNH President Elizabeth Chilton. “Her support of the university – both while serving as president and long after – has truly made a lasting difference for generations of Wildcats. We are so grateful for everything she’s done for UNH.”

“Joan was a distinguished leader – brilliant, kind, focused, clever, energetic, and passionate about the tri-partite teaching, research, and public service mission of UNH,” says Candace Corvey, who served as UNH’s vice president for finance and administration during Leitzel’s tenure. 

She was also humble, Corvey says. She recalls the first time she met Leitzel, toward the end of Leitzel’s first week as president when Corvey was interviewing for the VP of finance and administration job. Leitzel told Corvey that someone from the student newspaper had called her that morning to ask what she’d accomplished in her first week on the job. 

“She laughingly replied, ‘I learned to turn on my computer,’” Corvey says. “No pretense whatsoever.” 

Leitzel’s leadership was lauded by many former colleagues, several of whom recalled her mentorship, kind nature, and sense of humor fondly, noting that the combination fostered an enduring camaraderie throughout the leadership team. 

“One of Joan’s extraordinary talents was the ability to create a team,” says David Hiley, who served as provost beginning in 1999. “She had this strong sense that we should focus our efforts in a collaborative way. When I was interviewing for positions, UNH was not initially on my radar. But after I spent 10 minutes interviewing with her, I knew this was a president I needed to work for.” 

“In these days of turmoil for higher education, President Leitzel’s legacy will always be a reminder of what integrity, clarity, and strength can truly look like,” says Bruce Mallory, professor emeritus, who served as provost and executive vice president at UNH between 2003 and 2009. “She was one of my most important mentors, more through the questions she would pose than any direct guidance she might share. I will always be grateful for her leadership and for the amazing team she created.” 

Leitzel was also a big sports fan, Corvey notes, though coming from Ohio State and Nebraska – two previous stops in her professional career – it was football she followed most closely. Hockey, meanwhile, remained something of a mystery. 

“She had no grasp of ice hockey but knew it was the premier sport at UNH, so she enlisted Charlie Holt, retired UNH hockey coach, to teach her the game,” Corvey says. “She was a quick study and became an avid and sophisticated fan.”  

After her retirement, Leitzel was honored during a hockey game by being driven around the ice on the Zamboni, “to the delight of the roaring crowd,” Corvey says. 

Leitzel began a lengthy career in public education when she joined the faculty of mathematics at The Ohio State University in 1965. She later moved into administration, serving as the associate provost for curriculum and instruction. 

In 1990, she began a two-year stint at the National Science Foundation as a division director in the Directorate for Education and Human Resources before returning to higher ed at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, where she served as provost and interim chancellor before becoming the president of UNH in 1996. 

Among the notable accomplishments during her tenure at UNH were the establishment of the UNH-Manchester campus – where she encouraged leadership to develop programs to meet the specific needs of the Manchester community, including those in communication arts, engineering technology, and business – a “dramatic increase” in research funding, and a significant expansion of graduate programs, according to a biography published to the Leitzel Center website. 

After her retirement from UNH, Leitzel returned to Columbus, Ohio, where she remained actively involved with higher education issues and institutions. She served Ohio State one more year to lead the restructuring of arts and sciences there and periodically consulted with other universities, including Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates. She has received the Hanover College Distinguished Alumni Award, the Ohio State Award for Distinguished Teaching, and the Ohio State Distinguished Service Award.  

In 2001, she received the Charles Holmes Pettee Medal from UNH, which is “awarded to a resident or former resident of the state in recognition of outstanding accomplishment or distinguished service in any form to the state, the nation, or the world.”

(Editor’s note: You can read Leitzel’s full obituary here.)