President

A message from the Board: Fall Board of Trustees Meeting

October 22, 2025

Dear all,

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

  1. We welcomed our new Trustees (Maybelle Taylor Bennett ’70, Jon Friedland ’90 P’24, Wendy Holcombe P’28,W. Kimathi Marangu ’88 P’26 and Alex Wei ’97) 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 Mariya Novisad and Jennifer Kennel in their roles as Student and Faculty Observer to the Board of Trustees. You can read more about our new trustees here.

  2. Board members had dinner with students and House Fellows living in Cushing, Strong, and Noyes. Thank you very much to House Fellows Lori Newman, Leroy Cooper, and David Esteban for hosting these dinners and providing opportunities for our students to interact directly with our Trustee

    A group of thirteen people stand and smile together in a warmly lit room with artwork on the wall behind them. A round table with candles and a floral centerpiece is in the foreground.
  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 2029.
  5. The Board heard a presentation from President Bradley about future plans for the Center for Multidisciplinary Studies and the Board approved the renovation of the Old Laundry Building into the Center for Multidisciplinary Studies, pending the final fundraising required for the project.
  6. The Board participated in breakout sessions focused on the Priorities and Planning Review.
  7. The Board had lunch with the VSA Executive Board and a group of faculty who have been participants in the STEM and Humanities working group.
  8. Members of the Board had dinner with Rowland Evans ’75 who was on campus for the dedication of the Bridge Building for Laboratory Sciences. Rowland also performed several jazz selections with Abigail R. Posner ’26, Spencer R. McConnell ’20, Alden M. Ormont ’27, Laszlo E. Lawless ’28, Duncan P. Beauchamp ’26, and Evan G. Sweitzer ’26.

Also, Trustee Leslie Chihuly ’83 served as a guest on the Conversations @ the Salt Line podcast. Click below to listen to Leslie reflect on her time at Vassar, her service as a Trustee of the College, and her careers in art and philanthropy.

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