Presidential Search

I am delighted to announce that the Bryn Mawr Board of Trustees has voted unanimously to elect Wendy Cadge, the dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and Barbara Mandel Professor of the Humanistic Social Sciences at Brandeis University, as the 10th president of Bryn Mawr College. She will begin her term on July 1. 

Dr. Cadge stood out in an expansive field of remarkably talented candidates.  Her life and work beautifully align with Bryn Mawr’s mission and aspirations.  She is a distinguished and innovative scholar,  an accomplished academic administrator, an award-winning teacher, and an innately inclusive and feminist leader.  She shares Bryn Mawr’s core belief in the transformative power of liberal arts education and in the academic richness and synergy of our rigorous undergraduate and graduate programs. 

President-elect Cadge is widely published in her field of American contemporary religion and is regularly engaged in public discourse.  Her work is also entrepreneurial, creative, and practical.  In 2018, she founded the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab, which has become a national nexus for thought leadership, education, and support for chaplains and spiritual care providers.  Her work has illuminated and created a new community for practitioners of a powerful source of support for human wellness and thriving.

As an administrator, Dr Cadge has consistently demonstrated her ability to develop unexpected solutions to complex issues, discover common ground, and often foster new partnerships in the process.

Our search committee conversations with Dr. Cadge convinced us she has the moral compass, clarity of thought, generosity, creativity, and energy to lead our Bryn Mawr community forward in rich and unique ways.

You can read more about President-Elect Cadge’s background online.  You will likely notice that Dr. Cadge will be our second president with an undergraduate degree from Swarthmore College, so she is already connected to our Tri-Co community.  

We are grateful to the entire Bryn Mawr community for your thoughtful participation in articulating the essential priorities of our presidential search.   In concert with these widely shared aspirations, we searched for a new leader who embodies a passion for learning, intellectual curiosity, and delight in engaging deeply with our students, faculty, staff, and alumnae/i.  We searched for a candidate whose moral compass clearly embraces Bryn Mawr’s mission of excellence and inclusion.  And we looked for a candidate able to steward the College’s significant resources while also building and nurturing our community's vibrancy and inclusiveness.  Courage to engage in challenging conversations and make difficult decisions were also high on our list.  Wendy Cadge meets all of these aspirations. 

We owe a particular debt of gratitude to the Presidential Search Committee members for their deep commitment to Bryn Mawr and their unstinting dedication of time and care to this essential work.  We launched our rigorous national and international search in May 2023, attracting a rich field of candidates. Search Chair and trustee Amy Loftus ‘90 and Vice-Chair and trustee Cecilia Conrad ably led the 17-member search committee.  Amy, Cecilia, and I were joined by faculty members Catherine Conybeare, Erica Graham, Jamie Taylor, and Jose Vergara; staff member David Consiglio; students Adalia Rodriguez ‘24 and Hilde Nelson (PhD candidate, History of Art);  Trustees Charlie Bruce ’16, Gina Kim ’92, Barry Mills, Thabani Sinkula ’99, Lorelei Vargas ’94, and Nanar Yoseloff ’97; and Haverford College Board of Managers representative Amy T. Brooks H’92. 

Finally, and foundational to the success of our search, Bryn Mawr is fortunate to have been incomparably led by Kim Cassidy for over a decade. We are grateful for all she has done to strengthen Bryn Mawr’s position as one of the leading liberal arts institutions in the United States. We are stronger on every front and can take particular pride in Bryn Mawr’s ever-growing ability to attract, admit, and support the most excellent students because of Kim’s steadfast commitment to building our resources for financial aid. Kim will conclude her presidency on June 30.  We will celebrate her presidency later this spring and look forward to her return to the Psychology faculty after a well-deserved sabbatical. 

We can be proud of our community’s commitment to the success of our Presidential Search.  Thank you to all, and please join in welcoming Wendy Cadge to Bryn Mawr.  We have found the right next President, and I am confident that, together with her, Bryn Mawr will reach new heights of excellence and success.

Sincerely,
Cynthia Archer ‘75
Chair, Board of Trustees

As the year draws to a close, we write to share an update on the search for the 10th President of Bryn Mawr College and to thank you for your engagement and input to date. Since our search began, our community has participated in over 20 listening sessions that included students, faculty, staff, trustees, and alumnae/i and has submitted over 400 nominations for our consideration. We have used your input to shape our candidate search and inform our position description, which we are pleased to share with you here. Our work in recent weeks has turned to interviewing candidates. We are delighted to report that the interest in Bryn Mawr, our mission, and leading our college into the future, is very strong, as is our candidate pool. We look forward to providing a further update to you in the new year.

Thank you for all you do for Bryn Mawr.

With warm wishes for the new year,

Amy Loftus ‘90, Chair, Presidential Search Committee and Trustee
Cecilia Conrad, Vice Chair, Presidential Search Committee and Trustee

Dear Alumnae/i,

We are delighted to be updating you today on the search for the 10th President of Bryn Mawr College. As we shared in our last update, our Presidential Search Committee consists of 16 members of the Bryn Mawr community, including four faculty members, one staff member, one undergraduate student, one graduate student, nine trustees and a member of the Haverford Board of Managers. We are pleased to share that our committee is now fully complete with three distinguished faculty members added last week.

BMC Faculty

• Catherine Conybeare, Chair of the Faculty and Leslie Clark Professor in the Humanities and Chair of Greek, Latin and Classical Studies
• Erica J. Graham, Associate Professor of Mathematics
• Jamie K. Taylor, Mary E. Garret Alumnae Professor of Literatures in English
• Jose Vergara, Assistant Professor of Russian on the Myra T. Cooley Lectureship in Russian Studies

BMC Staff

• David Consiglio, Director of Assessment, Learning Spaces & Special Projects, LITS

BMC Board of Trustees

• Cynthia Archer ‘75, Board of Trustees Chair                                                           
• Charlie Bruce ‘16
• Gina Kim ‘92                                                             
• Barry Mills                                                                 
• Thabani Sinkula ‘99                                                  
• Lorelei Vargas ‘94                                                     
• Nanar Yoseloff ’97

BMC Students

• Hilde Nelson, ’24, MA History of Art
• Adalia Rodriguez ’24, AB Geology

With our committee fully assembled, our work begins in earnest. Over the summer, we hosted seven listening sessions with alumnae/i, trustees, and graduate students. Our committee's attention now turns to listening sessions on campus with undergraduates, graduates, faculty, and staff. These sessions will inform the completion of our presidential job specification that will guide our review of candidates.

We thank the community for the nominations submitted to date for the committee to consider. We continue to invite your feedback and additional nominations via this anonymous survey Presidential Survey. Your suggestions and comments on the search process are also welcomed and can be sent to Email Presidential Search.

Thank you for all you do for Bryn Mawr.

Amy Loftus ’90, Chair, Presidential Search Committee
Cecilia Conrad, Vice Chair, Presidential Search Committee

Dear Faculty, Staff, and Students,

We are delighted to be updating you today on the search for the 10th President of Bryn Mawr College. As we shared in our last update, our Presidential Search Committee consists of 16 members of the Bryn Mawr community, including four faculty members, one staff member, one undergraduate student, one graduate student, nine trustees and a member of the Haverford Board of Managers. We are pleased to share that our committee is now fully complete with three distinguished faculty members added last week.

BMC Faculty

• Catherine Conybeare, Chair of the Faculty and Leslie Clark Professor in the Humanities and Chair of Greek, Latin and Classical Studies
• Erica J. Graham, Associate Professor of Mathematics
• Jamie K. Taylor, Mary E. Garret Alumnae Professor of Literatures in English
• Jose Vergara, Assistant Professor of Russian on the Myra T. Cooley Lectureship in Russian Studies

BMC Staff

• David Consiglio, Director of Assessment, Learning Spaces & Special Projects, LITS

BMC Board of Trustees

• Cynthia Archer ‘75, Board of Trustees Chair                                                           
• Charlie Bruce ‘16
• Gina Kim ‘92                                                             
• Barry Mills                                                                 
• Thabani Sinkula ‘99                                                  
• Lorelei Vargas ‘94                                                     
• Nanar Yoseloff ’97

BMC Students

• Hilde Nelson, ’24, MA History of Art
• Adalia Rodriguez ’24 AB Geology

With our committee fully assembled, our work begins in earnest. Over the summer, we hosted seven listening sessions with alumnae/i, trustees, and graduate students. Our committee's attention now turns to listening sessions on campus with undergraduates, graduates, faculty, and staff. These sessions will inform the completion of our presidential job specification that will guide our review of candidates.

The BMC presidential search committee is coming to campus on October 4th and 5th for in-person listening sessions with faculty, staff, and students.

Register here: https://brynmawr.wufoo.com/forms/r1nuhfqv0wnrtro/

We thank the community for the nominations submitted to date for the committee to consider. We continue to invite your feedback and additional nominations via this anonymous survey Presidential Survey. Your suggestions and comments on the search process are also welcomed and can be sent to Email Presidential Search.

Thank you for all you do for Bryn Mawr.

Amy Loftus ’90, Chair, Presidential Search Committee
Cecilia Conrad, Vice Chair, Presidential Search Committee

Dear Alumnae/i,

Our presidential search committee continues its work engaging with the Bryn Mawr community on determining the most important attributes of our next president. After such a positive alumnae/i response to our August invitation, we have decided to host one additional virtual listening session for this community at noon Eastern on September 18th.

Joining the session will be members of our presidential search committee and Spencer Stuart, our selected search firm. Future sessions will be held with other community stakeholders, including students, faculty, staff, and trustees on campus in the coming weeks.

Register here: https://brynmawr-edu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJclcOygrTopH9SCNVghSnl49… 

If you are unable to join, we welcome your anonymous feedback and nominations via this Presidential Survey. Your comments on the search process may also be shared to Email Presidential Search.

Warmly,
Amy Loftus
Cecilia Conrad

Dear Alumnae/i,
 
As we shared in our presidential search update on July 28th, we are building an inclusive process that engages all members of our community in determining the most important attributes of our next president. We write today to invite you, as alumnae/i of the College, to participate virtually in one of two simultaneous and identical listening sessions, both scheduled for 11:00 am Eastern on August 31st.
 
Joining the session will be members of our presidential search committee and Spencer Stuart, our selected search firm. Future sessions, both on campus and virtual, will be held with other community stakeholders, including students, faculty, staff, and trustees in the coming weeks.

• Register here for Session A
• Register here for Session B

 
Spots are limited to allow for participation. Should we find there is more interest than we can accommodate, we will offer more sessions in September. If you are unable to join, we welcome your anonymous feedback and nominations via this Presidential Survey. Your comments on the search process may also be shared to Email Presidential Search.
 
Warmly,
Amy Loftus
Cecilia Conrad

Dear Postbaccalaureate/Graduate students,
 
As we shared in our presidential search update on July 28th, we are building an inclusive process that engages all members of our community in determining the most important attributes of our next president. We write today to invite you to participate virtually in a listening session, scheduled for 12:00 noon Eastern on August 31st.
 
Joining the session will be members of our presidential search committee and Spencer Stuart, our selected search firm. Future sessions, both on campus and virtual, will be held with other community stakeholders, including students, faculty, staff, and trustees in the coming weeks.

Spots are limited to allow for participation. Should we find there is more interest than we can accommodate, we will offer more sessions in September. If you are unable to join, we welcome your anonymous feedback and nominations via this Presidential Survey. Your comments on the search process may also be shared to Email Presidential Search.
 
Warmly,
Amy Loftus
Cecilia Conrad

Dear Bryn Mawr community members,

We write today with an update on the search for the 10th President of Bryn Mawr College. As you know, President Kimberly Cassidy will conclude her 11-year tenure as of June 2024. Cynthia Archer, Chair of the Board of Trustees, shared in May, that “Kim has led Bryn Mawr forward in enduring ways, preparing an incomparable opportunity for her successor to lead Bryn Mawr forward.” Our work to find Kim’s successor has begun. Since May, we have initiated the processes outlined in our shared governance model to form our search committee, we have selected Spencer Stuart as our search firm, and we have begun planning for inclusive engagement of this community in our search.

Our Presidential Search Committee will consist of 17 members of the Bryn Mawr community. The committee will include four faculty members, three of whom will be elected early in the academic year, one staff member, one undergraduate student, one graduate student, nine trustees and a member of the Haverford Board of Managers. We are pleased to share those individuals that have been named to the committee thus far.

BMC Faculty

• Catherine Conybeare, Chair of the Faculty and Leslie Clark Professor in the Humanities and Chair of Greek, Latin and Classical Studies
• (Three additional faculty elected fall 2023)

BMC Staff

• David Consiglio, Director of Assessment, Learning Spaces & Special Projects, LITS

BMC Students

• Hilde Nelson, '24, MA History of Art
• Adalia Rodriguez '24 AB Geology

BMC Board of Trustees

• Cynthia Archer '75, BOT Chair
• Charlie Bruce '16
• Cecilia Conrad
• Gina Kim '92
• Amy Loftus '90
• Barry Mills
• Thabani Sinkula '99
• Lorelei Vargas '94
• Nanar Yoseloff '97

Haverford Board of Managers and Haverford Corporation

• Amy T. Brooks

As the academic year begins, the Presidential Search Committee will schedule virtual and on-campus listening sessions to allow our community the opportunity to share perspectives on the important attributes of our next president. We encourage you to join these sessions as they are announced. We also invite your early feedback and nominations via this anonymous survey Presidential Survey.

Your suggestions and comments on the search process are also welcomed and can be sent to Email Presidential Search

We look forward to the exciting work ahead to find our next President and will update you further as our search progresses. Thank you for all you do for Bryn Mawr.

Warmly,
Amy Loftus '90, Chair, Presidential Search Committee and Trustee
Cecilia Conrad, Vice Chair, Presidential Search Committee and Trustee

Dear members of the Bryn Mawr community:

Earlier today, Kim Cassidy announced that she will conclude her service as President of Bryn Mawr 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 Bryn Mawr’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 Bryn Mawr. Excellence in Action provided an expansive and specific plan to carry forward Bryn Mawr’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 Bryn Mawr’s stewardship of its beautiful campus. Bryn Mawr students now begin to prepare for their lives beyond Bryn Mawr early, empowered by enhanced internship opportunities and programming through our Career and Civic Engagement Center.

Bryn Mawr’s scholar-teacher model is thriving, our faculty and students are engaged across disciplines and around the globe, and many students now leave Bryn Mawr 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 Bryn Mawr.   

Kim has led Bryn Mawr forward in enduring ways, preparing an incomparable opportunity for her  successor to lead Bryn Mawr forward. The Board of Trustees has initiated Bryn Mawr’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 Bryn Mawr and our search will actively engage our community in multiple ways to share hopes for Bryn Mawr’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 Bryn Mawr. 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