One of the most effective and accomplished presidents in the
173-year history of Wabash College has announced that the 2005-2006
school year will be his last at the helm of the liberal arts college.
Andrew T. Ford, who became Wabash’s 14th president in 1993, told members
of the
Board of Trustees of his intention to step down at the end of
the next academic year at the conclusion of the Board’s regular May
meeting.
"It is with mixed feelings that the Board accepts President Ford’s decision to
step down," said John N. Fox, Jr. ’64, chairman of the search committee.
"The Board so appreciates the enormous contributions Andy and Anne have
made to transform Wabash College during their tenure.
"Andy’s
success is directly related to his ‘students first’ attitude in
everything the College does. By focusing the work of the College on the
students, he has inspired faculty to be more creative as teachers and
alumni to be more supportive as volunteers and donors. His vision for
Wabash to be the preeminent liberal arts college has been clear and
unwavering, and there is evidence of his success in doing so in every
facet of the College."
Fox will chair a search committee
comprising Executive Committee Chairman Stephen Bowen ’68, Kevin
Clifford ’77, and Bill Wheeler ’83 that will hold its first meeting on
June 10. Board of Trustees Chairman Joseph D. Barnette, Jr. ’61 will
serve as an ex officio member of the committee, which will include
students, faculty, staff, and alumni.
Ford, a 1966 graduate of
Seton Hall University who earned his Ph.D. from the University of
Wisconsin, has been one of the most effective presidents in Wabash
history. He became Wabash’s 14th president in 1993 on the heels of a
controversial and divisive study of coeducation. Since that time, the
College’s enrollment has stabilized; the endowment has nearly doubled;
and the physical landscape of the College has become dramatically
different.
Ford led Wabash to a successful conclusion in its
largest fund raising campaign ever. The Campaign for Leadership
outstripped its original $100 million goal when it ended June 30, 2004
with a total of $136 million in gifts and pledges. The Campaign
generated funds for innovative cross-cultural immersion learning
programs and faculty development, as well as new facilities for science
education, recreation and athletics, and the Malcolm X Institute of
Black Studies.
Perhaps Ford’s greatest achievement was landing the College’s largest
ever gift, a $20.8 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to establish
the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash College. Also under
Ford’s leadership, Wabash established in 1995 the Wabash Center for
Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, another Lilly Endowment-funded
initiative. The Wabash Center holds dozens of national workshops for
teachers of religion at the undergraduate, graduate, and seminary level.
It is also a grant-making agency for faculty development.
In
2003, the National Association of Wabash Men, the College’s alumni body,
elected him an honorary alumnus for the Class of 2003.
The search
committee hopes to recommend a final candidate to the Board of Trustees
for its January 2006 meeting.