Women Who Built Monroe: Leslie Jerome’s Legacy of Mentorship and Connection

Mrs. Leslie Jerome’s connection to Monroe began when the institution was still a small business school in the Bronx, long before it grew into the global university it is today.

“It was not even a college,” she said. “It was a business school in the West Farms section of the Bronx.”

Today, Monroe University serves thousands of students from all over the world, and has grown into a global institution with campuses in New York (the Bronx and New Rochelle) and Castries, Saint Lucia -- with online study also an option. Few people have witnessed that transformation as closely as Mrs. Jerome, Monroe’s Director of Alumni Relations, whose decades-long involvement has helped shape the University’s culture of connection, mentorship, and community.

In many ways, her story is a living chapter of Monroe’s history. Mrs. Jerome’s connection to Monroe began shortly after she married Stephen ("Steve") Jerome in 1964, who would later lead the institution as President and now serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees.

At the time, Monroe was still a small business school serving students in New York City. Over the years, Mrs. Jerome watched it evolve step by step into a larger and more comprehensive institution.

“It’s been a very rewarding, long, steady history of being involved with all the different advances that we made,” she said. “Being there for the history of going from a business school to a business institute to an associate degree college, to a master’s degree college, and now, celebrating our university status.”

For Mrs. Jerome, that journey has been both professional and deeply personal. 

“Steve is always going forward. He’s always thinking about how we can go forward,” she said.

While he pushed forward with institutional growth, Mrs. Jerome found ways to support and strengthen the university community alongside him. Over the years, that has taken on several iterations – from supporting their growing family, to tutoring veterans or students learning how to type, to supporting the growth of the New Rochelle, NY campus, to developing the most powerful and extensive alumni network for Monroe.

Before Monroe, Mrs. Jerome was already involved in education.

“I had a position teaching elementary school,” she said. “I taught fourth grade in the Bronx.”

When her children were young, she stepped back from Monroe for a period of time to focus on raising her family. But as they grew older, she returned to campus at a pivotal moment in the institution’s development.

Her husband encouraged her to help build Monroe’s presence in Westchester County as the New Rochelle campus opened in the early 1980s. She accepted the challenge and quickly became part of the campus community.

Over time, Mrs. Jerome found her passion in building and maintaining relationships with Monroe graduates. As Director of Alumni Relations, she helped create one of the University’s most powerful assets: a deeply connected alumni network. She played a key role in expanding Monroe’s alumni engagement through digital platforms, particularly LinkedIn.

“Out of our 64,000 graduates, we have over 36,000 graduates on LinkedIn,” she said. “That’s powerful.”

Her network is a potent tool for future marketing and alumni research, allowing the University to stay engaged with graduates across industries and around the world.

“We can reach them, know where they work, what they do, how to reach them and be in touch with them,” she said.

Through internships, job opportunities and mentorship, alumni continue to support the next generation of Monroe students. It’s something Mrs. Jerome sees it as central to the University’s mission, helping Monroe tell the story of its past, and its dreams for the students of the future.

“The success of the graduates is what matters most,” she said, noting that many Monroe students are the first in their families to attend college, one that lifts up whole communities for brighter futures.

“These 64,000 graduates translate to over 100,000 people because they have mothers, fathers, children, brothers, sisters,” she said. 

As Monroe celebrates Women’s History Month, Mrs. Jerome said one lesson she hopes young women take to heart is the importance of mentorship.

“The first thing you have to do is you have to find a mentor,” she said.

That relationship does not have to be a formal one. It can simply be someone willing to share guidance and perspective, she said.

“You have to find somebody who is not only interested in themselves, they’re interested in you,” she said.

Nearly a century after Monroe was founded in 1933 by entrepreneur Mildred King Jerome -- a pioneering woman who launched the original business school -- the institution has grown into a global university. Mrs. Jerome has been a quiet but dynamic driver for much of that evolution. Looking back, she said the scale of Monroe’s impact still amazes her.

“To think that one family –  my own, the Jeromes – played a role with so many employees and graduates...that to me is incredible,” she said. 

Indeed it is!