February 2025 Board of Trustees Meeting Summary

Dear members of the Mount Holyoke College community,

The Board of Trustees held its winter meeting from Feb 20 to 22, 2025. The meeting opened with a panel of recent graduates sharing insights about their Mount Holyoke experience, the career preparation they received and their postgraduate engagement with the College. The Board thanks moderator Trustee Carly Basile ’16 and panelists Tarana Bhatia ’15, Luciany Capra ’21, Nyasha Franklin ’19 and Trustee Liz Sevigny ’23 for an excellent dialogue. Trustees also met with Student Government Association (SGA) Student Conference Committee representatives Yifei Chen ’26 and Suzy Kim ’25, and SGA president Julia Keane ’26 to discuss the implications of the spring 2024 student survey results. Finally, the Board spent time discussing the momentum building toward the College’s next major fundraising campaign, currently scheduled to launch publicly in the 2026–2027 academic year. The campaign will fuel the implementation of the MHC Forward strategic plan, driving us toward our bold and boundless future.

Trustees received updates on the work of the 2024–2025 MHC Forward working groups. Below, please find a summary of each group’s work to date. To read a more comprehensive overview of the updates from each group, please refer to the MHC Forward web page.

Career Readiness and Exploration Working Group

The Career Readiness and Exploration Working Group is cosponsored by Provost and Dean of Faculty Lisa Sullivan and Vice President for Enrollment Management Robin Randall, and co-chaired by Amy Martin, professor of English on the Emma B. Kennedy Foundation and director of the Weissman Center for Leadership, and Jaime Grillo, executive director of the Career Development Center. The group is developing a set of recommendations for a comprehensive, best-in-class career readiness program. They are focusing on:

1. increasing the number of students who have a job offer or graduate school acceptance at time of graduation,
2. ensuring that 100% of students have a substantial experiential learning experience, and
3. ensuring that 100% of students engage with an alum before graduation.

Graduate Program Working Group

In parallel with an external review of the Professional and Graduate Education (PaGE) program, the Graduate Program Working Group will recommend an optimal future direction for graduate and professional programs at Mount Holyoke, with the dual goals of:

1. enhancing the College’s reputation and reach in alignment with our mission and
2. providing a robust and reliable revenue stream.

The group is cosponsored and co-chaired by Provost and Dean of Faculty Lisa Sullivan and Vice President for Finance and Administration Carl M. Ries.

Strategic Enrollment Working Group

Sponsored by Vice President for Enrollment Management Robin Randall and co-chaired by Executive Director of Student Financial Services Tayler Kreutter, Interim Dean of Admission Courtney Minden, and Associate Professor of History and Chair of the Faculty Committee on Admission and Aid Desmond Fitz-Gibbon, the Strategic Enrollment Plan Working Group is evaluating the external environment and competitive challenges that will shape a comprehensive strategic enrollment plan. The goal of the plan is to attract and retain a diverse student body that will benefit from and contribute to the College’s mission, vision and values.

Student Outcomes Working Group

The Student Outcomes Working Group is designing a highly integrated, cross-divisional network of student support that will advance key student success indicators, including retention and graduation rates and postgraduate outcomes. The group is sponsored by Provost and Dean of Faculty Lisa Sullivan and Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students Marcella Runell. It is co-chaired by Professor of Economics and Dean of Studies Sarah Adelman and Assistant Vice President for Student Life, Strategic Operations Alicia Erwin.

The group is currently engaged in intensive data analysis. They are working to identify any common themes or trends in MHC’s retention and graduation data, including by subgroups of students. The goal is to ensure that current high-impact practices are resourced appropriately and/or are effectively integrated.

Presidential Task Force for the Trans and Gender-Nonconforming Community

The Presidential Task Force for the Trans and Gender-Nonconforming (TGNC) Community is working collaboratively with students, faculty, staff and alums to address specific concerns that TGNC students have raised. It is cosponsored by Vice President for Equity and Inclusion Kijua Sanders-McMurtry and Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students Marcella Runell. Co-chairs are Vice Presidents Sanders-McMurtry and Runell, Zoë Crabtree, technical support and content specialist, and Lily E. Rood ’27. A key question they are exploring is how Mount Holyoke can strategically support the TGNC community in alignment with our mission of being the leading gender-diverse women’s college.

The Board’s formal business is described below. We congratulate the March 2025 degree recipients and the faculty members awarded tenure. We welcome a new Board member and thank her for her willingness to serve her alma mater. Finally, on the occasion of her final Board meeting, we thank Trustee Mona Sutphen ’89 for 10 years of wise, expert and dedicated service to the College, including as chair of the 2022–2023 Presidential Search Committee. Other trustees who have fulfilled their terms will be honored at our annual tribute dinner in May.

The formal actions of the Board included:

• Approving the academic year 2025–2026 tuition rate of $67,782, a housing rate of $10,151 and a food rate of $10,222. This increase of 1% for tuition and 3.5% for housing and food was set based on inflation. (The SGA fee is set separately by the Student Government Association.)
• The awarding of degrees, on March 7, 2025, to 66 seniors and one graduate student.
• The awarding of tenure to professors Barbie Diewald, Marta Sabariego, Sabra Thorner and Ayca Zayim.
• The election of Sowmya Subramanian ’96 to a five-year term as alum trustee beginning July 1, 2026.
• The approval of candidates for the honorary degree.

The Board of Trustees extends gratitude and best wishes to the entire Mount Holyoke Community.

Sincerely,

Sally Durdan ’81, Chair of the Board of Trustees

Danielle R. Holley, President