Valerie Smith, current dean of the college at Princeton University, has been named the 15th president of Swarthmore College (Pa.).
Smith has been the senior officer responsible for Princeton’s undergraduate academic program, including all aspects of the curriculum, undergraduate research and the residential college system. She recently chaired a committee that studied the academic and cultural experience of low-income, first-generation Princeton students.
The committee’s recommendations are currently being implemented. Smith will replace Swarthmore’s interim president, Constance Cain Hungerford, on July 1.
Other people news:
University of Delaware President Patrick Harker has been appointed to a five-year term as president of The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. He begins the position on July 1 after an eight-year tenure at the university.
Frederick Lawrence will step down from the presidency of Brandeis University (Mass.) after this academic year to teach at Yale Law School. He was hired as Brandeis’ eighth president in January 2011.
Colgate University (N.Y.) President Jeffrey Herbst will not seek renewal of his contract when it concludes on June 30. Colgate’s 16th president, he has held the office since 2010.
