April 28, 2006

To: The Wellesley College Community
From: Diana Chapman Walsh
Subject: Transitions

Earlier today I informed the Board of Trustees that I will be leaving Wellesley, effective June 30, 2007. This is a decision I have been considering for several years, and one I reach with strong and complicated feelings. Taking leave of this special college in whose work I believe so deeply will never be easy, and I shall miss the generosity of spirit, the solidarity, and the affection so many of you have extended me in such abundance. I will miss you. But I am convinced that the time is right, for Wellesley, and for me. Just as there are in life, there are cycles in institutions; part of the art of leading well – as of living well – is to move with new openings for reinvention and discovery.

We still have important projects to complete in the next 14 months, and I intend to stay fully committed to leading the college through the 2006-2007 academic year while the trustees advance the search for my successor. At this moment of decision, though, I have one simple message I want to convey to each of you: students, faculty, staff, alumnae, and trustees, all who give so unstintingly of yourselves day after day to keep making Wellesley better and better. I want you to know how proud I am of all we have accomplished together. I want you to know how grateful I am for your dedication and support. The Wellesley College of today – so wise, resilient, and full of life – bears the indelible imprint of our combined efforts. The Wellesley of tomorrow will surely prosper and will always reflect the wholehearted stewardship we brought to our work when it was our turn to hold the college in trust for a time.

Next year I hope to extend our discussions of Wellesley’s future in the spirit of honest and open exploration that has enriched the work of the 2015 Commission. Wellesley College is poised to move forward with confidence on a path of self-renewal of the kind described by John Gardner in his book of the same name: “an endless and unpredictable dialogue between our potentialities and the claims of life – not only the claims we encounter but the claims we invent.”

Starting in July 2007, I plan to re-embark on that path myself. I will take a long-deferred sabbatical to listen for deeper promptings that I have necessarily had to subordinate to the demands of the job and the constraints of the role. Wherever I go I know I will treasure the memories and insights I’ll carry from my time at this magnificent college doing work I find so meaningful with people I so admire and enjoy. It’s been a great privilege.

 

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