The President-elect

Andrea E. Chapdelaine, a visionary leader and champion of the liberal arts, will serve as Conn’s 12th president.

uring her first official visit to campus on April 24, President-elect Andrea E. Chapdelaine was welcomed by hundreds of students, faculty and staff in the College Center at Crozier-Williams. After introductory remarks by Board of Trustee Chair Debo P. Adegbile ’91, who co-chaired the 15-member Presidential Search Committee, Chapdelaine took to the podium to address the Conn community for the first time.

“This is such an exciting day and I’m thrilled to be here,” Chapdelaine said. “I am very much looking forward to coming to an institution that is fully focused on a rich undergraduate experience, fully dedicated to the liberal arts and putting it into action for our students.”

A strategic leader and compassionate community builder, Chapdelaine has more than 30 years of experience in higher education, having served as a professor, dean, provost and, since 2015, president of Hood College in Frederick, Maryland. She was unanimously appointed by the Board of Trustees to serve as a Connecticut College’s 12th president in March after an extensive and inclusive search process. Her tenure will officially begin July 1.

“President-elect Chapdelaine has a track record of success in consensus-building and sound financial stewardship, as well as a clear understanding of both the complexities of and possibilities for liberal arts colleges and their students,” Adegbile wrote in his announcement of Chapdelaine’s selection to the campus community.

“In this pivotal moment for Conn and for higher education broadly, she inspires enthusiasm for what our College can do as we build on our 113-year-old mission and more recent achievements. She has the vision, experience and management capabilities to lead our College community forward.”

At Hood, Chapdelaine led two ambitious strategic planning initiatives and bolstered academic programs, increased enrollment and retention, expanded experiential learning opportunities, established new structures and processes for fostering inclusivity and full participation, improved compensation and benefits for faculty and staff, enabled critical investments in campus facilities and strengthened the institution’s financial position. In 2017, she launched Hood’s first comprehensive campaign in more than 25 years, which met 150% of its original goal, and she secured a $54 million gift, the largest in the institution’s history. During her tenure, Hood’s endowment grew by 103%.

President-elect Andrea Chapdelaine talks with students at Harris Refectory. All photos by Sean D. Elliot.

“I am particularly excited about the proven experience that President-elect Chapdelaine brings to Conn from her nine years of successfully leading a college that, in many ways, embodies the opportunities and challenges of our College and other liberal arts colleges in our country,” said Maria Wyckoff Boyce ’85, vice chair of Conn’s Board of Trustees and co-chair of the Presidential Search Committee. “She is ready to serve our College on day one.”

Chapdelaine’s selection was the culmination of a thorough and collaborative nine-month national search. The Presidential Search Committee included 15 faculty, staff, students and trustees, and an additional 34 faculty, staff, student and trustee representatives were invited to interview finalists. The search process, led by the executive search and leadership advisory firm WittKieffer, also included 43 community engagement meetings and numerous surveys, with more than 540 faculty, staff, students, alumni, parents and friends of the College providing input.

A proud first-generation college graduate, Chapdelaine earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in justice studies from the University of New Hampshire and master’s and doctoral degrees in social psychology from the University of Connecticut. She began her academic career at Wabash College in 1993 and taught at Trinity College beginning in 1995. In 1998, she joined the psychology faculty at Albright College, where she also served as dean of undergraduate studies, provost and vice president of academic affairs.

A noted scholar of social psychology and justice studies, Chapdelaine serves as a tenured faculty member in Hood’s psychology department, having taught first-year seminars and social psychology at the graduate level. Her most recent scholarly work has focused on supporting faculty through policies designed to promote flexibility and work-life balance, the value of undergraduate research to student learning and ethical issues in service learning.

A hallmark of Chapdelaine’s career has been her ability to bring people together to build stronger communities. At Hood, she established the Division of Community and Inclusivity to foster a sense of belonging and advance diversity and equity efforts. She worked diligently to establish community partnerships and serves on numerous community boards. Nationally, she is a member of the American Association of Colleges and Universities and the Council of Independent Colleges board of directors.

Chapdelaine has deep roots in New England and has been a longtime admirer of Connecticut College. She grew up in Chicopee, Massachusetts, spent many summers at Misquamicut Beach in Westerly, Rhode Island, and completed her graduate studies in Connecticut. Her extended family lives in the region, she said, and coming to Conn already “feels like coming home.”

During her campus visit, Chapdelaine said she and her husband of 29 years, David Tetreault, are very much looking forward to returning to Connecticut, where they met and started their family. They have two grown sons, Daniel and Benjamin, who both live within driving distance. She also told the audience about the other member of the new first family who will be moving onto campus, 15-month-old bernedoodle Koda. “She’s about 70 pounds of love, and, as I like to say, she is exuberant in her response to humanity,” Chapdelaine said, smiling. “She’s a campus dog, and she takes her role very seriously.”

In addition to the community meeting, Chapdelaine’s visit included a tour of the campus, a meeting with her newly appointed transition committee and a lively lunch with students.

“I cannot thank all of you enough for the warm support and the welcome I have received,” Chapdelaine told the students, faculty and staff.

“My first responsibility as the 12th president is to learn and embrace the College’s core values, points of pride and shared aspirations, and then work with the entire College community to articulate a collective vision of an exciting future grounded in Conn’s rich history.”

President-elect Chapdelaine tours campus with Interim President Les Wong.