Leo M. Lambert is in his 19th year as president of Elon University and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the American Council on Education, the Association of Governing Boards, and the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.

Under his leadership, two-thirds of the buildings on Elon University's 636-acre campus have been constructed, creating an environment renown for student engagement with faculty and peers. The campus itself is a designated botanical garden. During Lambert's presidency, Elon sheltered a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa and has been consistently recognized as a national leader in experiential learning and a top producer of Fulbright Scholars and Peace Corp volunteers. Lambert created Elon's Center for Access and Success, which includes the Elon Academy, a college access program for local high school students with high potential and financial need, and the Odyssey Scholars program, a major scholarship and mentoring program for first-generation college students.

Lambert has been awarded the Washington Center's inaugural William S. Burke Award for Excellence in Experiential Learning and an honorary doctorate in humane letters from his alma mater, the State University of New York.

Earlier in his career at Syracuse University, with $1 million in external funding, he developed the Future Professoriate Project, an innovative effort to prepare advanced graduate students for professorial careers, with special attention to their preparation as excellent teachers.

Lambert's books include University Teaching: A Guide for Graduate Students, edited with Stacey Lane Tice and Patricia Featherstone, and The Undergraduate Experience: Focusing Institutions on What Matters Most (with Peter Felten, John Gardener, Charles Schroeder, and Betsy Barefoot).