New London – The Connecticut College Board of Trustees has unanimously appointed Andrea E. Chapdelaine, current president of Hood College, as the 12th president of Connecticut College. She will begin her tenure at Conn on July 1, 2024.
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.
In his announcement to the Conn community, Debo P. Adegbile ’91, chair of the College’s Board of Trustees, said, “President-elect Chapdelaine is a proven higher education leader of a diverse student body and an administrator with a passion for and commitment to the mission of liberal arts colleges. She has a track record of success in consensus-building and sound financial stewardship, as well as a clear understanding of both the complexities and possibilities for liberal arts colleges and their students.”
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%.
Chapdelaine’s selection as Conn’s 12th president is 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.
In her initial message to the Conn community, Chapdelaine said, “I am thrilled to be joining Connecticut College, an esteemed liberal arts college that educates students to ‘put the liberal arts into action as citizens in a global society,’ a mission that deeply resonates with my own professional endeavors and interests.”
She added, “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.”
Chapdelaine and her husband, David Tetreault, recently celebrated their 29th wedding anniversary. They have two grown sons, Daniel and Benjamin, and a beloved dog, Kodachrome or “Koda.”
Chapdelaine will succeed Interim President Leslie E. Wong, who took over from President Emerita Katherine Bergeron, who served as Conn’s 11th president from 2014-2023.
Chapdelaine will make her first official visit to campus on April 24.
