Williams College Names Interim President
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — With President Morton O. Schapiro's departure looming and no replacement yet in sight, the Williams College board of trustees has appointed an interim leader.In a letter to the Williams community, Gregory Avis, chairman of the board's Executive Committee and head of its presidential search committee, said the unanimous decision was to name William Wagner, the college's dean of faculty, to the post.
The college had hoped to have a new president in place by the time Schapiro left for his new post as head of Northwestern University. The search committee has been holding meetings with faculty, students and community residents on what they would like to see in a new president over the past months.
That input and search committee recommendations are contained within a presidential prospectus; Avis wrote that the search committee is now "focused on the parallel tasks of continuing to add names to the candidate list while researching and narrowing the field." Its members have already begun meeting with candidates but seems unlikely to complete the search by Schapiro's departure date of July 1.
The college's rules designate that the dean of faculty would take up the mantle between presidencies, so "this appointment is a natural progression," wrote Avis.
Wagner has been with the college for 29 years, as faculty and serving on a number of committees. He was director of the Williams-Exeter Programme, chairman of the department of history, and the committees on Educational Policy, Undergraduate Life, Priorities and Resources, and Faculty Compensation.
"I look forward in the coming months to working with all members of the college community on our ongoing goal of making Williams the finest college it can be," Wagner wrote in a letter attached to the announcement.
Wagner will take the interim post on July 1; should he continue beyond Sept. 1, Andrea Danyluk, professor of computer science, will become acting dean of the faculty until he can return to his post.
Schapiro spent nearly 20 years in total at Williams, first as a member of the faculty and returning in 2000 as president. During his tenure, he lead a successful capital campaign, forged stronger ties with Williamstown and cultural community, opened the private college to more students of modest means and saw the beginnings of a major construction project.
The final phase of that project, the multimillion-dollar reconstruction of the library, has been put on hold as Williams weathers the economic downturn. The college's $1.8 billion endowment lost 25 percent of its value, a situation the trustees expect to continue over the next several years. The college has frozen salaries and cut spending in response. The cuts have not affected positions or the financial aid program.
The new president will have the unenviable task of leading the nation's premier liberal arts college within the financial restrictions imposed by the recession. In its presidential prospective, the college community is looking for:
"In its seventeenth president, Williams seeks a vigorous, creative individual who will both join and lead the College community — someone who will celebrate what has already been accomplished, but more importantly, will challenge the College to imagine new possibilities for its future, and advance Williams to its next frontiers."
