Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff Members,

I write to share the bittersweet news that Assistant Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness and Assistant Secretary of the College Robin Shores is retiring from the College after 27 years of dedicated service at Swarthmore. Her last day in the office is December 18. 

Robin came to Swarthmore in 1999 from the University System of Maryland as the inaugural director of the College's first formal institutional research office. For nearly a decade, she met the College’s needs virtually single-handedly. Over the years, as the demands grew for assessment partnership, accreditation work, and data governance leadership, among other priorities, so did the office. The 2022 addition of “institutional effectiveness" to the office's name reflects its expanded structure and responsibilities for tying research and information to planning and decision-making. Given her thoughtful, strategic leadership in this area, Robin was appointed assistant secretary of the College in December 2018, a role in which she also helps support the Board of Managers. 

Throughout her time at the College, Robin has worked collaboratively with individuals and departments across campus on a range of projects and initiatives. Among the most significant are: her team’s comprehensive work on student access and affordability in 2015, which established metrics and benchmarks that are still used today; supporting the College during COVID-19 to, among other things, create an emergency travel registry, track facilities usage, monitor evolving enrollments, and use research and community feedback to inform key decisions; and working with faculty members to support the College’s accreditation efforts and shepherding the recent successful transition from Middle States to NECHE. Robin has met each of these challenges — not to mention all those surveys! — with unwavering fortitude and grace. 

We are working to finalize a committee to help lead a national search for Robin’s successor. Because the scope and demands of the role have expanded over the years, I am reconstituting the position to focus solely on institutional effectiveness, research, and assessment. With that in mind, I am pleased to share that Assistant General Counsel Lucy Glasson has accepted my invitation to assume the additional role of assistant secretary of the College. My thanks to Lucy for agreeing to take on this extra responsibility.  

I also want to extend my deepest gratitude to Robin for the kind, caring, and committed professionalism she has brought to her work each day. Over a period of drastic change in the accreditation and regulatory landscape in higher education, Robin has served as a steady and knowledgeable resource, providing expert advice while leading the College’s efforts in this area. Please join me in thanking Robin for her many contributions to the College and in wishing her all the best.

Sincerely,

Val Smith
Roy J. and Linda G. Shanker Presidential Chair