President

A Message from the Board: Fall Board of Trustees Meeting

October 19, 2026

Dear all,

I hope you enjoyed the weekend. I am writing to update you on the recent Fall Board of Trustees Meeting. It was a busy weekend for the Board. I thought I would highlight a few of their key activities below:

  1. We welcomed our new Trustees (Alexandria Dempsey ’09, Mélida Hodgson ’85, Dashiell Flynn ’99, Michael Neuwirth ’89, and Andrew Solum ’89) to the Board and they participated in a full-day New Trustee Orientation that included one-on-one meetings with members of the Senior Team and Nico Reyes Cardozo and Jennifer Kennel in their roles as Student and Faculty Observer to the Board of Trustees. Read more about our new trustees.

  2. Board members had dinner with students and House Fellows living in Main, Noyes, Jewett, and Strong. Thank you very much to House Fellows Lori Newman, Kenisha Kelly, Isabel Ryan, and Rebecca Pollet for hosting these dinners and providing opportunities for our students to interact directly with our Trustees.

  3. Board members participated in a fiduciary and governance training facilitated by General Counsel Shay Humphrey and Trustee Brian Farkas ’10.

  4. The Board received a report from Vice President of Admission and Student Financial Services, Sonya Smith, on the first-year Class of 2030.

  5. The Board participated in a plenary discussion with journalist Jack Stripling from The Chronicle of Higher Education, moderated by Wesley Dixon.

  6. The Board received a presentation on Annual Fund giving and Capital Campaign Giving from Vice President of Advancement Tim Kane and Trustee Carol Ostrow.

  7. The Board had lunch with the VSA Executive Board and a group of faculty whose work focuses on climate change and sustainability efforts in the Hudson Valley.

Thank you to the many different groups on campus that played a role in making the Board meetings successful (especially Facilities Operations, Media Resources, Alumnae House, The Heartwood, and Campus Activities) If you ever have any questions (or ideas) related to the Board, please do not hesitate to contact me or Wesley Dixon, Secretary of the Board of Trustees, at wdixon@vassar.edu.

Thanks,

Sharon Davidson Chang '84 P'19
Chair of the Board of Trustees

Wesley Eugene Dixon
Secretary of the Board of Trustees