The Board of Managers celebrated its 150^th anniversary at its meeting this past weekend. At the meeting, Giles Kemp '72 officially took on the role of Board chair from Barbara Mather '65, who had served eight years in that role, and a total of 29 years thus far as a Board member.

At a banquet held Friday in honor of the Board sesquicentennial as well as Mather's service, the Board announced a new endowment named for Mather to celebrate her tenure as chair and her longtime service to the College.

"Barbara Mather has led us tirelessly over the last eight years," says Board Secretary Bennett Lorber '64 of the Barbara W. Mather '65 Political Science Honors Endowment. "We who have served with her established this fund to support the honors program as it is represented in her major department, including visiting honors examiners, special lectures, thesis work, and other special projects of political science honors majors in perpetuity and to express our thanks to Barbara for her superb leadership."

During Mather's tenure as chair, the College successfully weathered the global economic crisis. Mather also oversaw the process that brought Rebecca Chopp to Swarthmore in 2009 as the College's 14th president and has been an invaluable partner in developing Strategic Directions, the recommendations resulting from the College's strategic planning process.

In addition to celebrating Mather's tenure as chair, more than 25 former Board members and their partners attended the proceedings to mark the sesquicentennial of the College's governing body.