From the President's Desk | Sarah Lawrence College

May 20, 2025

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Dear Members of the Sarah Lawrence Community,

Just over a week ago we marked the end of the academic year with a beautiful graduation ceremony. The downpour on the day could do nothing to dampen the spirits of the Class of 2025 (who, after all, were welcomed to campus four years ago by Hurricane Henri!). If you missed our 97th Commencement, or want to rewatch any parts, please visit our Commencement recap site, where you will find photo galleries and videos of the ceremony. We were delighted this year to welcome as our commencement speaker fashion and footwear icon Sam Edelman '73, a member of a multi-generational family of SLC alums, who delivered a touching and inspiring keynote address. And we were proud to bestow an honorary degree upon pioneering choreographer and performer Lucinda Childs '62, who also shared inspirational words with our graduates. In addition to the graduation ceremony, the recap site also features photos and a full video from our Graduate Hooding, held the night before Commencement to recognize our graduate students and their accomplishments in pursuit of advanced degrees.

Congratulations once again to the Class of 2025, and to the families and friends who supported them so steadfastly on their journey to this moment.

Commencement week rightly shines a spotlight on the relationship between students and faculty as a core value of a Sarah Lawrence education. Whether it’s via meaningful moments at the Senior/Faculty Gala, the senior lecture, this year delivered by esteemed Art History faculty member Jerrilynn Dodds, or the rousing ovation students gave faculty during Commencement, we are reminded of the foundational importance of these relationships.

Our Board of Trustees convened for its May meeting immediately following Commencement, and, among other actions, voted unanimously to confer tenure upon two faculty members: An Li (Economics) and Caden Manson(Theatre). Congratulations and my gratitude to An and Caden for all they bring to Sarah Lawrence College!

Faculty have been in the news quite a bit of late, with longtime Writing faculty member Marie Howe winning the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for her work, New and Selected Poems, and Dance program director and choreographer John Jasperse ’85 earning a rave review in The New York Times for his latest work, “Tides”. Last month, I Am You, the forthcoming novel by Writing faculty member Victoria Redel, enjoyed an exclusive reveal on the TODAY show. I encourage you to visit our News page from time to time to follow the extraordinary achievements of our faculty, students, and alumni.

Last but most certainly not least, I share with you the retirements of three esteemed and beloved faculty members on whom the Board conferred Faculty Emeritus status in recognition of their distinguished careers and their inimitable contributions to our community: Roland Dollinger (German), Eduardo Lago (Spanish), and Thomas Young (Music). Between them, Roland, Eduardo, and Thomas taught at SLC for more than 100 years — longer than Sarah Lawrence has been a college! — mentoring and inspiring generations of students and earning the deep respect of their faculty and staff colleagues along the way.

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As is true for many members of our campus community, summer takes on a different rhythm for me from the academic year. It’s a time when I take part in annual meetings with other presidents under the aegis of groups like the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Annapolis Group, among others. This year there will be more such meetings and convenings than usual as college and university presidents continue the important collective work laid out in the American Association of Colleges and Universities’ “Call for Constructive Engagement”, signed by me and more than 650 others, and address the ever increasing array of issues confronting higher education for which a concise summary is provided here. It’s also a time when I have the privilege of mentoring new presidents, serving as a faculty member of the Harvard Seminar for New Presidents. And it’s a time of intensive planning work on campus with members of the senior leadership team among others. Finally, it’s a time when I catch up with alumni!

I look forward to seeing many of you at Reunion, on campus from June 5-8. I will deliver my annual Year in Review on Saturday, June 7, and what a year it has been — and continues to be! That report will offer an opportunity for me to share reflections on the extraordinary accomplishments of this year as well as the turbulence surrounding U.S. higher education and what Sarah Lawrence is doing as we navigate these challenges. I look forward to sharing that with many of you in person and in the June issue of this newsletter. Until then, I wish you a happy, healthy start to summer and offer my congratulations again to the Class of 2025!