LATROBE, PA – Saint Vincent College is pleased to announce the appointment of Emma Swift Lee, director of the Fred Rogers Institute (FRI), as the Rita McGinley Endowed Executive Director of the Institute and a member of the Roundtable of Scholars at the College.
Named in honor of the late McGinley—philanthropist, children’s educator and longtime friend of Saint Vincent College—the position oversees the Institute’s research initiatives while expanding and developing programs for families and educators and enhancing the use of the vast Fred Rogers Archive.
Lee’s appointment began July 1.
“Emma Swift Lee has continued to expand the impact of Fred Rogers through her creative engagement of grownups who care for children. We are encouraged as she continues to lead and grow this Institute,” said Father Paul Taylor, O.S.B., C’87, S’91, PhD, president of Saint Vincent College. “Fred Rogers entrusted this vision and his legacy to Saint Vincent College to advance the care and education of children. The Fred Rogers Institute brings that mission to neighborhoods everywhere.”
In her role, Lee works with educators and caregivers to support the interactions and relationships that help children grow and learn. Lee and the FRI team are continually learning from Rogers’ legacy and practical scholarship in child development to create professional learning and community building opportunities for children’s helpers.
“Fred Rogers described the space between people as ‘holy ground.’ Our work at the Fred Rogers Institute is to uplift and support that holy ground between children and the caring adults in their lives,” Lee said. “It is such an honor to learn from Fred’s legacy and the incredible people who seek it out to inspire their own learning and growing.”
Lee has worked at the FRI for more than eight years in various roles. She first started in January 2018 as a senior program associate before transitioning to Rita McGinley Fellow in Strategic Communications. Lee later became associate director in May 2023 and was promoted to director in June 2024.
Under Lee’s leadership, the Institute achieved a longtime goal of digitizing the Fred Rogers Archive. On a global scale, Educators’ Neighborhood has evolved into the Institute’s most successful flagship program, reaching over 1,000 educators worldwide.
The FRI’s reach has also expanded thanks to several initiatives, including the launch of a new Fred Rogers Institute podcast, “Listen to the Helpers,” and the Institute’s Symposium Series webinars that touch the lives of thousands of educators and caring adults.
Lee has also been instrumental in helping to create a variety of community events, including “Sounds of the Neighborhood” in June 2026, which featured the personal pianos of Fred and Joanne Rogers together publicly for the first time in a duo concert inside the Fred M. Rogers Center. She also was a part of the collaboration between the College’s Education Department and the Institute to help create the Certificate in Values-Based Leadership, a program designed to help graduate students and professionals in child- and youth-serving fields enhance their leadership skills. Lee also spearheaded the creation of the FRI’s Impact Council, a regional leadership group established to help advance the legacy and principles of Fred Rogers.
Before joining the Institute, Lee worked at the RAND Corporation as a policy analyst. Her work included research, evaluation and technical assistance for projects in early childhood and K-12 education in both rural and urban settings.
She holds a Master of Education in human development and psychology from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The endowed position was last held by Dr. Dana Winters, C’06, who now serves as vice president for enrollment and student success.
Planned under Rogers’ guidance and established in 2003 at Saint Vincent College near his hometown of Latrobe, the FRI is the single most authoritative resource for studying the beloved television personality’s legacy.
Rogers established the Institute with the goals of working with current professionals to support their practice in the service of children and families, researchers looking to deepen their understanding of the important issues facing children, and students enrolled at the College who aspire to serve children and their helpers.
About the Roundtable of Scholars
Archabbot Boniface Wimmer, O.S.B., founder of Saint Vincent Archabbey, studied at the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich, an institution that was home to a roundtable of European professors whose positions were endowed by Bavarian King Ludwig I.
The Rita McGinley Endowed Executive Director of the Fred Rogers Institute is part of Saint Vincent College’s own Roundtable of Scholars: expert professors serving in faculty positions endowed by the financial commitments of alumni and friends.
These endowed chairs work to promote and enhance collaboration in their scholarship and research across the College’s academic community while also preparing students for successful careers and lives of purpose and meaning.
