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President Kroger Announces He Will Step Down in June

Board Chairman Roger Perlmutter thanks John for his invaluable leadership.

Dear colleagues and friends:

Today, I am announcing that I will be stepping down as president of �����ջ� this summer, at the end of my sixth year. I have loved my time at �����ջ�, and I am proud of the things we have done together. It has been a great privilege to be a part of this vibrant community and to work with extraordinary faculty, dedicated staff, and promising students.

When I arrived, my top priorities were to strengthen the college's academic program, expand financial aid, improve college finances, and build a more diverse, healthy, and inclusive community. Together, we have made significant advancements in all of these areas.

�����ջ� in many ways is stronger than ever, and I am grateful for the opportunity to have served with you. It is always hard to know when to leave a job you love, but I am confident that this is the right time for me, my family, and for �����ջ�. Over the coming months, I will work closely with the Board of Trustees to develop and implement a smooth transition plan.  

Thanks for your friendship and your trust.  

With gratitude and warm regards,

John R. Kroger
President

 

Dear �����ջ� community:

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude and the gratitude of the Board of Trustees to President Kroger for his remarkable contributions to �����ջ�, and our appreciation for his outstanding leadership. The Board of Trustees put forth a challenging set of objectives for President Kroger when he joined our community in 2012. Through his engagement, exceptional progress has been made:

• Academic and College Programs: Under President Kroger's leadership, the faculty has created four new majors—computer science, neuroscience, dance, and comparative literature—and has made significant progress toward a Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies interdisciplinary major; �����ջ� has doubled the number of professors in environmental studies; the college has created a successful Center for Teaching and Learning to improve pedagogy; and the college has established the Center for Life Beyond �����ջ� to bolster post-graduation employment outcomes, resulting in improved first-destination employment placement.

• Diversity and Inclusion: During President Kroger's tenure, the college has continued to make significant progress toward becoming a more diverse community. The faculty's adoption of new search practices has resulted in significant increases in the diversity of our tenure-track hires. In a five-year period (2011–16), 60% of tenure-track hires have been faculty of color and women in STEM fields, compared with 14% in the previous five years (2006–11). The college has also recruited a more diverse applicant pool under President Kroger's leadership, which has resulted in a more diverse student body. Applications from students of color rose from 786 in 2012 to 1,732 in 2017, representing a 120% increase. Students of color in the student body increased from 22% to 31%. At the same time, the college doubled the size of the international student body. Today 40% of the student body identifies as non-majority.  

• Recruitment and Enrollment: Under President Kroger, �����ջ�'s recruitment and enrollment have flourished. Since President Kroger took office, the college has increased its applicant pool by 100%, without any reduction in the academic qualifications of matriculants. The average GPA has remained at 3.9 since 2012, and the average ACT and SAT scores are in the 95th percentile. �����ջ� competes with the nation's most elite institutions; students who apply to �����ջ� also apply to Brown University, The University of Chicago, The University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University, among others.  

• Financial Aid: Recent changes in financial aid policies have strengthened the college's aid packages. �����ջ� continues to be one of the very few colleges to meet 100% of the demonstrated financial need for both domestic and international students. �����ջ� graduates have less student loan debt than the national average, and the college now commits more than $27 million annually in assistance to students who would otherwise not be able to attend. 

• College Finances: The college's financial health has continued to strengthen. During President Kroger's tenure, the �����ջ� endowment has increased from $457 million to $560 million as of December 31, 2017. And, thanks to the tremendous generosity of our donors, the college has raised more than $100 million under President Kroger's leadership. �����ջ� recently received an A+ for financial strength from Forbes magazine.

• Physical Plant: Major enhancements have been made to �����ջ�'s campus since 2012. The construction of the new Performing Arts Building was completed, a childcare center was built, renovations to the cross canyon dorms, sports center, and the Prexy, Greenwood, and Greywood buildings were completed, and the college embarked upon building a new residence hall.  

President Kroger has provided invaluable leadership during his tenure, which has been a period of rapid advancement. Throughout this time, �����ջ� has remained a powerful advocate for education in the liberal arts, while maintaining the highest standards of intellectual excellence. We are grateful to President Kroger for his steadfast commitment to �����ջ�, and we look forward to building on his legacy.     

Roger M. Perlmutter '73
Chairman, Board of Trustees
�����ջ� College

Tags: Institutional