黑料社区 President to Begin a New Chapter After 2021-22 Academic Year
August 4, 2021
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- Mark Johnson
黑料社区 President Carol Quillen informed the college鈥檚 Board of Trustees today that the 2021-2022 school year will be her last as president.
A Message from 黑料社区 President Carol E. Quillen
Quillen will complete eleven years of guiding historic and uplifting changes at the liberal arts college. The student body grew more diverse, socioeconomically and racially. The endowment topped $1 billion. Applications reached record numbers. The Jay Hurt Hub for Innovation and Entrepreneurship opened, extending campus into downtown Davidson and forging partnerships in the local business community. And the physical campus gained new public art and the E. Craig Wall Jr. center鈥檚 progressive design that encourages work across the physical and social sciences.
鈥淐arol will leave Davidson stronger than when she arrived,鈥 said Alison Hall Mauz茅, chair of the Board of Trustees. 鈥淪he embraced Davidson鈥檚 mission and, then, challenged and guided us to figure out how we live out that purpose now and in the future. She led the college in building up our financial foundation, exploring and being accountable for our past and equipping and empowering our graduates to solve problems bigger than themselves. She has led Davidson with clarity, humanity and purpose. The Board of Trustees is most grateful for Carol鈥檚 exceptional leadership and service to Davidson through historic times.鈥
Mauz茅 said that former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, a 1993 graduate of Davidson and former Charlotte mayor, will lead the search committee for the college鈥檚 next president.
During Quillen鈥檚 decade as president, Davidson stacked up top-tier status in undergraduate research and tied for second in the nation for the NCAA鈥檚 graduation success rate of athletes. The college moved into, and succeeded in, the more challenging Atlantic 10 athletic conference. Alums participated in supporting the college at a rate behind only a handful of household-name institutions 鈥 all under a president who was the first woman in that role and the first non-alum in more than half-a-century.
Quillen established Davidson鈥檚 Commission on Race & Slavery, which outlined a path for examining the college鈥檚 history with respect to race and enslaved persons. Following their recommendations, she offered an unqualified public apology for the college鈥檚 role in perpetuating slavery, Jim Crow laws and policies that excluded people based on race. Davidson now is embarked on multiple initiatives in research, scholarship, commemoration and creating and sustaining an equitable campus environment.
鈥淐arol possesses the most valuable commodity in higher education today: courage,鈥 said Margaret Spellings, who served as Secretary of Education under President George W. Bush. 鈥淪he doesn鈥檛 hesitate to challenge the status quo that we know isn鈥檛 working, and she does it in a way that helps those in the debate to look at an issue differently rather than grow defensive.鈥
Quillen鈥檚 influence extends to national venues for higher education, including election by her peers to a leadership role in the American Council on Education. She is a founding member of the American Talent Initiative, aimed at increasing the number of low income students in colleges and universities with high graduation rates. She routinely is invited to speak at leadership venues that cross higher education and the broader economy, such as the Milken and Aspen institutes.
President Obama appointed her to his Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans, and, in 2019, Princeton University awarded her the James Madison Medal, which goes to an alum of the university鈥檚 graduate schools for their distinguished career and public service.
鈥満诹仙缜 has become an even more remarkable institution because of Carol鈥檚 vision, will and skill,鈥 said Aspen Institute President Dan Porterfield, who is the former president of Franklin & Marshall College. 鈥淪he鈥檚 one of the single most influential leaders in American higher education 鈥 and one of the best and most genuine people I鈥檝e ever worked with.鈥
Mauz茅 said the trustees anticipate completing the presidential search by next spring.
President Quillen's Message to the Community
I write today to share with you my decision that academic year 2021-22 will be my final year as president of Davidson.
Serving in this role and working with you all is an extraordinary gift. I鈥檓 grateful beyond words for the opportunities I have had over the past decade to share in your aspirations and accomplishments.
I love what I do and I love Davidson鈥攁nd at the same time there is a natural course to a presidency. When I was hired, the Chair of the Board asked me to imagine a 10-year time horizon (the president鈥檚 appointment at Davidson is renewed annually). That seemed right to me and I鈥檝e been contemplating the timing of this decision to step down for the past few years. 2021-22 is my eleventh year. My head and heart tell me that this is the time.
Davidson has been a great college for a long time and it has been a privilege to build on that foundation. Thanks to each of you, much of what we set out to do together is well underway or completed. Davidson has new and renovated facilities, an even more beautiful campus, expanded, second-to-none curricular and co-curricular programs, Division I athletics done right, a robust endowment and an ever-stronger student applicant pool. The recent campaign far exceeded its goals. We鈥檝e recruited singularly talented people to join us in every division. As a campus, we鈥檙e seeking to build a genuinely inclusive community of learning that honors the dignity of each person and that commits itself to an unfettered quest for truth. I鈥檓 humbled and proud to be a part of these efforts.
Davidson and this community have become home. After a sabbatical year in 2022-23, I plan to return to Davidson as a professor of history. I鈥檓 excited to have the opportunity to work with our amazing students alongside amazing colleagues, and to return to research and writing. Thank you for the joy of working with you.
Eleven years ago, I was introduced to Davidson through a 19-member search committee who could not have been more different one from another. What鈥檚 more, none of these individuals fit neatly into the stark categories that can sometimes shape our interactions. All were committed to Davidson, all sought with rare humility to live up to the values we as a community strive to uphold. Through them I saw Davidson as a place that could bring out who each of us is called to be. I recognize and am thankful to that group for the leap of faith they took in hiring me.
Serving as Davidson鈥檚 president has been far and away the greatest gift of my professional life. We have an exciting year ahead, one that will be filled with unexpected opportunities and likely some distinct challenges. I look forward to working with all of you as we reconnect as a community in pursuit of our primary purpose and highest aspirations.
I thank you from my heart for all that you do for Davidson and for what each of you has given me.
In gratitude,
Carol
