Emmanuel Chooses Chemist as Next Prez, Spencer to Leave Bates Next Summer, South Dakota Higher Ed Chief to Take Interim Reins at Troubled Western Connecticut
By John O. Harney
Comings and Goings …
Emmanuel College selected chemist Mary K. Boyd to be its 13th president. Boyd is currently provost of Georgia’s Berry College. She was previously dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of San Diego and worked as a principal investigator for a National Science Foundation grant supporting the research of female faculty, particularly instructors of color.
At Emmanuel, she’ll succeed Sister Janet Eisner, who has led the Catholic college in Boston’s Fenway section since 1979 and will become president emerita.
CLAYTON SPENCER
Bates College President Clayton Spencer announced she will leave the Maine liberal arts college in June 2023, after 11 years in charge. Among other accomplishments, Spencer developed the most geographically and racially diverse class in Bates history, with 27% of the class of 2025 identifying as U.S. students of color and 65% of U.S. students coming from outside of New England.
The college administration has recently encountered criticism for opposition to unionization efforts and racial tensions in its hometown of Lewiston. Before joining Bates, Spencer served as vice president for policy and other key positions at Harvard University.
Western Connecticut State University President tapped Paul Beran, the former CEO of the South Dakota Board of Regents for Public Universities, to serve as interim president of Western, where President John Clark announced he is stepping down after reports of financial mismanagement.
During his seven years in charge, Clark helped introduce an in-state tuition program that now includes all of New York and New Jersey. A report conducted by the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, however, found that the university’s “practice of relying on reserves to balance the operating budget over an extended period has led to the current situation in which reserves have been totally depleted.”
Maria Ivanova, director of the Center for Governance and Sustainability at the University of Massachusetts Boston’s John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies, was named the next director of Northeastern University’s School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs. She’ll succeed Jennie Stephens, who led the school from 2018 to 2022.