Mount Holyoke forever shall be

March 2, 2022

Dear members of the Mount Holyoke community,

Last Thursday evening, I informed the Board of Trustees of my decision to step down as Mount Holyoke’s 19th President in order to take up the presidency of The American University of Paris. This unique opportunity to advance a contemporary expression of the liberal arts in France — one that brings together so many of my intellectual and administrative interests and commitments — will soon (at the end of the summer) draw me away, from our current and anticipated work together and from this beloved community.

It has been an extraordinary honor and a privilege to serve you and Mount Holyoke since 2013 and to work in concert with brilliant and exacting students, with a faculty that is as devoted to outstanding scholarship as it is to cultivating inquiry in others and with a leadership team and staff so exceedingly devoted to our mission. It has been inspiring and motivating to work with such an engaged, thoughtful, generous and dedicated Board of Trustees and to come to know, admire and deeply appreciate the wider alum community. While I have held different roles over these nine years, I see our work together as a continuum — one focused resolutely on the future strength of the College, on enhancing the exceptional educational experience it offers and on the community that makes this possible, here on campus, across the nation and worldwide. 

Together we have navigated, and continue to confront, extremely complex and challenging times, and we have begun to look at ourselves and to the future to reimagine Mount Holyoke in ways that I know will be yet brighter and stronger, yet more equitable and inclusive, and yet more environmentally respectful and just. I have every confidence that this work will continue well into the future, under new leadership and with new momentum. In the meantime, I have committed to continuing this work with the Board of Trustees and the leadership team and doing all that I can to advance this work with you, while preparing for the best possible transition.

Mount Holyoke will always hold a very special place in my heart, and this was an extremely difficult decision for me to take. The Connecticut River Valley and the College have been home to me and to my family for nearly a decade. Like so many of you, I know that Mount Holyoke is much more than a beautiful campus and a place to work or study: it is a shared experience and common endeavor for a College, a mission and a future that radiates beyond each of us as individuals and beyond the gates. That endeavor will continue, and though from afar, I shall be forever in support of you and of Mount Holyoke. 

In gratitude for the many, many ideas, encounters and relationships that have fueled our work together,

Sonya