Paul LeBlanc graduated from Framingham State in 1980 with a B.A. in English. He continued his education, earning a M.A. in English from Boston College and a PhD in Computer Technology and Writing from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Born to poor immigrant parents, LeBlanc stressed the importance of affordable higher education throughout his life, dedicating a large part of his still-thriving career to the utilization of innovative technologies in the classroom. His commencement address to the Framingham State College graduating class of 2000 focused in particular on the often underappreciated value of a public university education.
He began his career as a professor of English at Springfield College in 1984, and served as Chairman of the Department in 1989, which later expanded to become the Humanities Department. In addition to rewriting the curriculum and adding new courses, he also established a computer writing lab for the Department, at a time when computers were not yet a staple of college classrooms. He took a leave of absence in 1993 to work for Houghton Mifflin Publishing for two years. During this time, he founded the Sixth Floor Media division of the company which is a multimedia business unit specifically catered to the college division. From 1996 to 2003, he served as President of Marlboro College, a small Vermont liberal arts college of 270 students and 34 faculty members. During his presidency he added a new library wing and a new dance and music building to the tiny campus, as well as revitalized graduate and international education departments. After his term, he went on to become President of Southern New Hampshire University, a position that he still holds today. When he began his presidency in 2003, SNHU was struggling to attract and retain students. Under LeBlanc’s leadership, the college became a leader in online education, which boosted enrollment numbers as well as retention and graduation rates. SNHU was one of the first nonprofit schools to implement such diverse online offerings, and certainly unique in its day for the amount of funds allocated for the online department’s budget. The college was also the first American university to offer online classes all the way in China, and LeBlanc also established a nationally recognized Masters of Fine Arts program. SNHU’s business model is reflective of LeBlanc’s belief in the importance of affordable higher education, and education for all.
LeBlanc currently lives in Manchester with his wife, Patricia. They have two daughters, Emma and Hannah. Emma is pursuing her doctorate at Oxford University, and her sister Hannah is pursuing her PhD at Stanford University.