The below message was sent by Board of Trustees Chair Cynthia Archer to the ůůֱ²¥ community on Tuesday, May 2, 2023.
Dear members of the ůůֱ²¥ community:
Earlier today, Kim Cassidy announced that she will conclude her service as President of ůůֱ²¥ College in June 2024, the end of her current term. By then Kim will have led the College through eleven years of remarkable growth and change with the generosity of spirit, unbounded energy and joyful dedication to learning and purposeful action so evident in all that she does. Her collaborative leadership has raised ůůֱ²¥â€™s enduring commitment to academic excellence, global engagement, and student success within a vibrant, inclusive community to new heights.
The Board of Trustees is deeply grateful to Kim for her transformational leadership. Early in her presidency, Kim framed a strategic vision for ůůֱ²¥. Excellence in Action provided an expansive and specific plan to carry forward ůůֱ²¥â€™s enduring mission to educate students to the highest standard of excellence and prepare them for lives of purpose. Kim led a record-breaking fundraising campaign to underwrite our vision, supporting the excellence of our faculty across undergraduate and graduate programs, attracting increasingly talented and diverse students along with the financial support they need to attain their degrees, and investing in our staff whose dedication and expertise is so essential to our community. We have re-envisioned Park Science Center, built a vibrant new Student Life and Wellness Center and garnered national recognition for ůůֱ²¥â€™s stewardship of its beautiful campus. ůůֱ²¥ students now begin to prepare for their lives beyond ůůֱ²¥ early, empowered by enhanced internship opportunities and programming through our Career and Civic Engagement Center.
ůůֱ²¥â€™s scholar-teacher model is thriving, our faculty and students are engaged across disciplines and around the globe, and many students now leave ůůֱ²¥ with advanced degrees from our extensive 4+1 programs and partnerships. And all of this is happening within a community that is united and intentional in our work to create an ever-more equitable and inclusive ůůֱ²¥.
Kim has led ůůֱ²¥ forward in enduring ways, preparing an incomparable opportunity for her successor to lead ůůֱ²¥ forward. The Board of Trustees has initiated ůůֱ²¥â€™s search for our new President. I am grateful to trustees Amy Loftus ’90 and Cecilia Conrad, Wellesley ‘76, who will bring their exceptional talents to the leadership of this search. The search committee will include trustees, faculty, staff, and student members. Our new president will serve all of ůůֱ²¥ and our search will actively engage our community in multiple ways to share hopes for ůůֱ²¥â€™s next leader. We will keep you informed in the coming weeks and will create a clear mechanism for you to share your thoughts as our search moves forward.
I will close by expressing again the Board’s profound gratitude for all that Kim has accomplished on behalf of ůůֱ²¥. We are fortunate to have her leadership for another year, and we look forward to celebrating her presidency next spring.
Sincerely,
Cynthia Archer
Chair, Board of Trustees