Newswise — Lynn Pasquerella, an accomplished scholar, medical ethicist, and global advocate for women's education and empowerment, was named the 18th president of Mount Holyoke College at a special meeting of the Board of Trustees on October 31. Pasquerella, the unanimous recommendation of a 16-member search committee, will assume the presidency on July 1, 2010.
The new president will be introduced to the Mount Holyoke community today at a 4:15 p.m. ceremony in Chapin Auditorium, initiated by the ringing of the historic Mary Lyon bells.
For Pasquerella, currently provost at the University of Hartford, today's announcement represents both the culmination of a career in higher education that began more than 25 years ago and a return to her undergraduate institution. A first-generation college student, she graduated from Mount Holyoke in 1980 before earning her Ph.D. in philosophy from Brown University.
"Lynn represents the ideal of a Mount Holyoke education," said Leslie Anne Miller '73, chair of the Board of Trustees. "She embodies academic excellence, leadership, and a deep-seated commitment to the liberal arts and educational access. She is in the vanguard of a new generation of academic leaders who are taking the helm at a time of great challenge and opportunity for top liberal arts colleges. For Mount Holyoke, she is the perfect choice to lead us as we expand our presence on a global stage."
Pasquerella's ascent through academic leadership has been a rapid one. In 2004, after 19 years as a professor of philosophy at the University of Rhode Island, Pasquerella became URI's associate dean of the graduate school. In 2006, she was named vice provost for research and dean of the graduate school. In 2008, she joined the University of Hartford as provost and chief academic officer.
In addition to success as a scholar who has written extensively in the areas of medical ethics, theoretical and applied ethics, metaphysics, public policy, and the philosophy of law, as well as significant accomplishments as an administrator, Pasquerella has been engaged throughout her career in efforts dedicated to effecting positive change locally and globally.
Currently, she serves as project leader for a research team with the Africa Center for Engineering Social Solutions, focusing on empowering women in an AIDS-ravaged section of Kenya. She was also the principal investigator on a $3.5 million National Science Foundation grant to promote the careers of women in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines and on a $750,000 NSF-Northeast Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate grant to encourage recruitment of underrepresented groups into the professoriate in STEM fields.
"I am honored by this opportunity to return to Mount Holyoke as its 18th president," said Pasquerella. "Mount Holyoke provided me with a distinctive education--one that has resulted in my unyielding advocacy for liberal learning. I look forward to joining the Mount Holyoke community in pursuit of our common objective: promoting the freedom that lies at the heart of women’s education, here as elsewhere, tomorrow as well as today."
"Lynn Pasquerella is a powerful intellectual force, a dynamic and compassionate leader, and a charismatic and wonderful human being," said Walter Harrison, president of the University of Hartford. "I am as fond of her as anyone I have ever worked with, and our whole community will be devastated that she is leaving after only a year and a half as provost. But we are all so very proud of her. In the vocabulary of her favorite sport (and mine), Mount Holyoke has hit a home run!"
Pasquerella succeeds Joanne Creighton, who has led Mount Holyoke since 1996. Under Creighton's leadership, applications increased by 50 percent and the endowment nearly tripled prior to the recent downturn of the financial markets. Creighton also presided over the recruitment of a new generation of faculty and a campus renewal that included a new science center and residence hall, and significant renovations to art, music, admission, and athletic facilities.
A distinguished career Born and raised in Connecticut, Pasquerella first found her way to Mount Holyoke in 1978, transferring in as a junior from Quinebaug Valley Community College. It was at Quinebaug where she was discovered by faculty members and encouraged to move on to a rigorous and challenging four-year college. Working full-time throughout the academic year to support herself, she graduated from Mount Holyoke magna cum laude and a member of Phi Beta Kappa in 1980. She went on to receive a full fellowship for her doctorate at Brown.
"The unwavering support of my peers and the faculty encouraged me to take up the challenge to excel, and the educational opportunities afforded me at Mount Holyoke gave me the academic and leadership skills to succeed," Pasquerella said.
In 1998, Pasquerella was honored by Change magazine and the American Association of Higher Education as one of the nation's "Young Leaders of the Academy." Her leadership has extended beyond higher education into surrounding communities and around the globe, including service on the board of Paul Newman's Discovery Center in Woodstock, Connecticut. She also serves on the Rhode Island Health Department's Institutional Review Board, the advisory board for the Women's Adult Correctional Facility in Rhode Island, and Day Kimball Hospital's ethics committee and as chair of its Institutional Review Board.
Pasquerella has received funding through the U.S. Department of Energy to work on ethical issues related to the Human Genome Project. She has also received research grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Hewlett Foundation, the American Bar Association, the Council of Graduate Schools, and the Office of Research Integrity.
Pasquerella will also be professor of philosophy at Mount Holyoke, as she is at the University of Hartford and was at the University of Rhode Island. She and her husband John Kuchle, a biologist and photographer, will move to South Hadley; the couple's twin 19-year-old sons are attending college: Spencer is at nearby Hampshire College, and Pierce is at Mitchell College in New London, Connecticut.
Mount Holyoke's Board of Trustees unanimously approved her selection on Saturday, October 31, after an intensive seven-month search process that reviewed a large number of accomplished candidates, including many nominated by members of the Mount Holyoke community. The 16-member search team included trustees, alumnae, and members of the faculty, student body and staff. It was chaired by Jeanne E. Amster '77.
Founded in 1837, and the first of the Seven Sisters--the female equivalent of the once predominantly male Ivy League--Mount Holyoke was the model upon which many other women's colleges were patterned. Throughout its history, the College has been known for academic rigor and barrier-breaking graduates. It has a longstanding record as one of the most successful producers of women in the sciences in all of U.S. higher education. In recent years, the school has radically expanded its international reach, and now features the most international student body of any leading liberal arts college.
For more information, see:http://www.mtholyoke.edu/newpresident
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