Alumnae Achievement Awards 2008

Diana Chapman Walsh ’66 was the twelfth President of Wellesley College, from 1993 to 2007, and the fourth alumna to lead Wellesley. After receiving her degree from Wellesley College she attended Boston University, where she earned an M.S. degree in Journalism in 1971 and a Ph.D. in health policy from the University Professors Program in 1983.

Before assuming the presidency of Wellesley College, Dr. Chapman Walsh was the Florence Sprague Norman and Laura Smart Norman Professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, where she chaired the Department of Health and Social Behavior. Before joining Harvard, she spent ten years at Boston University, ultimately as a University Professor, Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences in the School of Public Health, and Associate Director of the Health Policy Institute. As a Kellogg National Fellow from 1987 to 1990, Walsh traveled throughout the United States and abroad studying workplace democracy and principles of leadership, and writing poetry. She has written, edited and co-edited roughly 50 articles and fourteen books, including a study of the practice of medicine within corporations, titled Corporate Physicians: Between Medicine and Management.

During her tenure as president, Wellesley College undertook a number of new initiatives, including a revision of the curriculum and an expansion of programs in global education, experiential and service learning, and interdisciplinary teaching and learning. Also during her tenure, Wellesley’s endowment grew from $485-million to more than $1.6-billion. In June 2005, Wellesley ended a five-year comprehensive capital campaign, setting a record for fundraising by a liberal arts college, with gifts and pledges totaling $472.3-million.

Dr. Chapman Walsh oversaw the opening of the Davis Museum and Cultural Center, the establishment of the Religious and Spiritual Life Program, the creation of the Knapp Media and Technology Center and the Knapp Social Science Center, the Newhouse Center for the Humanities, the annual Ruhlman and Tanner conferences. The Wellesley campus underwent significant physical changes under her leadership as well, with the opening of the award winning 11-acre complex surrounding the Lulu Chow Wang Campus Center, the Davis parking facility and the surrounding Alumnae Valley.

Dr. Chapman Walsh currently serves on the boards of Amherst College and State Street Corporation and as a member of the MIT Corporation.