Dear Swarthmore Community Members,

We write to follow up on Board Chair Harold “Koof” Kalkstein ’78’s recent announcement of the search for the College’s 16th president. We are honored to co-chair this effort and grateful for the opportunity to work alongside so many dedicated members of the Swarthmore community.

As Koof mentioned, a committee of students, faculty, staff, and managers, working together with our partners at the executive search firm Isaacson, Miller (IM), will guide the search. We are pleased to share that the following individuals have been nominated and have accepted our invitation to serve on the committee:

• Bill Boulding ’77, Board of Managers
• David Bradley ’75, H’11, Board of Managers
• Erin Todd Bronchetti, Professor of Economics
• Isthier Chaudhury, Director of Admissions
• Julian Chen ’28, Student
• Logan Grider, Associate Professor of Art
• Chung Sze Kwok ’27, Student
• Lucy Lang ’03, Board of Managers
• Nicole O’Dell Odim ’88, Board of Managers
• Kathryn Riley ’10, Associate Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry
• Jim Sailer ’90, Alumni Council President
• Anne Schuchat ’80, H’05, Board of Managers
• Carolyn Vance, Facilities Work Order Manager

Chief of Staff and Secretary of the College Erin Brownlee Dell will staff the committee, supported by Executive Coordinator Jenny Gifford and Administrative Coordinator Meg Gebhard. We are deeply grateful for the time and energy these individuals will dedicate to this important work over the coming months.

To give every member of our community a chance to share their perspectives on this process, we’ve created two ways to offer input:

Students, faculty, and staff members will be invited to on-campus listening sessions on April 30 and May 1. We’ll share specific times and locations once the schedule is finalized.

We also invite the entire College community to complete a brief survey about the search. The survey is designed to gather your thoughts on several key areas, including:

• The challenges and opportunities facing the College that the next president will need to address
• The characteristics and qualities you most hope to see in our next leader
• What makes the Swarthmore presidency a distinctive and compelling opportunity

Please note that individual responses will be kept confidential and shared only with the search committee and IM partners. Your candid input will both inform the search and help us craft a compelling narrative of the Swarthmore presidency for potential candidates.

Finally, we encourage you to visit the presidential search website, which will be a resource for updates and information as the process moves forward.

Thank you for your attention to this important work. We are genuinely excited to work alongside you during this important moment in Swarthmore’s history, and we look forward to keeping you informed along the way.

Sincerely,

Cindi Leive ’88 and Gus Schwed ’84
Search Committee Co-Chairs
Members of Swarthmore College’s Board of Managers