By Ethan Lyne, Charlie Lynn, Kate Hawthorne
On December 7, the Haverford College Board of Managers announced their much-anticipated appointment of Wendy Raymond as the next President of the College. Raymond currently serves as Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty at Davidson College, and will begin at Haverford on July 1, 2019. She will succeed Kimberly Benston who has served as president since 2015 and is expected to return to teaching.
Raymond has worked at liberal arts colleges for the last 24 years in various positions, beginning as a professor of biology at Williams College with a focus on cellular biology and genetics. In 2013, she moved to Davidson, where she has worked to bolster academic programming and development, in addition to serving as the college’s Chief Diversity Officer.
She began her academic career at Cornell University, where she received her bachelor’s degree in chemistry, and later received her Ph.D. at Harvard University. In a video featured alongside her announcement on the Haverford website, Raymond talks about how she was only able to attend Cornell because of a scholarship from her high school, financial aid from the college, and the extra effort of two Cornell alum to get her the full financial aid package.
People from all across the Haverford College community packed into VCAM for an afternoon reception on Dec. 7 to congratulate and welcome Raymond. This was one of the biggest welcomings of a new Haverford president in many years, in part because Raymond will be the first woman to serve as president on a permanent basis. In their brief remarks, current President Kim Benston described it as “such a happy and momentous day for the College,” and Rick White ‘81, Chair of the Board of Managers, joked that “she’s going to be here for a long time.”
In Raymond’s brief first address to the community, she expressed both her excitement and gratitude to have this opportunity at Haverford. “I’ve been drawn to Haverford College for a really long time,” Raymond said as she jokingly referenced both her husband, Dave Backus ‘82, and her interest in the institution. She also mentioned that her pet dog, a beagle named Peanut,who was prominently featured in the college’s Instagram post alongside Raymond, would be quite helpful in introducing her to the Haverford community.
In a brief interview, she also mentioned some of the objectives she hopes to accomplish once her term as President begins this upcoming summer. “My goals are to be collaborative with the community to work on the next strategic plan, which is clear that Haverford wants to do, and then move into another campaign to raise funding to help that strategic plan come to life. I don’t have any personal goals for Haverford because those need to be community goals,” she said.
Later in the day, students got the opportunity to meet Raymond and engage with her more casually in the Dining Center, as she and her husband walked around and introduced themselves to students as they were eating dinner.
Students reacted fairly positively to the announcement of Haverford’s new president. “I feel that the fate of Haverford is in good hands moving forwards,” said Nicky Rhodes ‘19. Grace Coberly ‘22 stated “I am really excited to have a female president. I think that it’s a good step in the direction that the students want to go.”
The selection process of Raymond was not a simple feat, as a 17-member Presidential Search Committee was formed in the spring of 2018 and was tasked with interviewing and deciding the next president from a large pool of candidates. All of the committee members who spoke to the Bi-College News noted that Raymond stood out. Charles Young, a member of the committee who works in Dining Services, highlighted Raymond’s time at Davidson.
“The first thing that jumped out to me was her experience with diversity and inclusion. Looking at her CV, she was part of so many important organizations and she created so many organizations,” he explained.
Emily Lin ‘20 who also served on the committee said, “I think she’s super personable and very articulate about her personal experience regarding her career, diversity initiatives, and her administrative experience and about what she could bring to Haverford.”
Laura McGrane, director of Visual Culture Arts and Media and associate professor of English, also served on the Search Committee. She said she’s excited about what Raymond can bring to Haverford. “I think one of the thrilling things about Wendy Raymond from the very beginning was that it was clear there was a caliber of mind, of scholarship, of teaching, and of care. And care for students, for staff, for faculty, for the whole community and that was really unique, and kind of profound for us.” she said.
The selection of Wendy Raymond as Haverford’s new president has brought new hope and cautious optimism to the campus, as many are excited to see what impact Raymond could have on the future of Haverford College.
Photo credit: Ethan Lyne
