Andrea E. Chapdelaine, a visionary leader and champion of the liberal arts, named Connecticut College president-elect
Board of Trustees Chair Debo P. Adegbile ’91 today announced that Andrea E. Chapdelaine, current president of Hood College, has been unanimously appointed as the 12th president of Connecticut College. She will begin her tenure at Conn on July 1, 2024.
“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,” Adegbile, who co-chaired the 15-member Presidential Search Committee, wrote in his announcement to the campus community. “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.
“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.”
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.
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.
Debo P. Adegbile ’91, Board of Trustees Chair and Presidential Search Committee Co-chair
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%.
“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 a national leader in higher education who is ready to serve our College on day one.”
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.
President-elect Andrea E. Chapdelaine, right, with her husband, David Tetreault.
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 worked to enhance shared governance and established the Division of Community and Inclusivity to foster a sense of belonging and well-being and to advance diversity and equity efforts. She worked diligently to establish community partnerships and serves on numerous community boards in Maryland. 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.”
“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,” Chapdelaine said. “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.”
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.
Andrea E. Chapdelaine, President-elect of Connecticut College
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.
“I’d like to commend the search process and in particular the thoughtful leadership of Maria and Debo,” Chapdelaine said. “Everyone I met was very welcoming and our frank conversations gave me excellent insight and increased my excitement about joining the Conn community.”
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.
Wong said, “President-elect Chapdelaine will have an abundance of assets to address the future of Connecticut College. She will bring an attitude and approach that will excite the campus and continue to build our confidence for the future. The College could not find nor seek a better person for the job.”
Chapdelaine will make her first official visit to campus on April 24.
By the Numbers: A Model of Shared Governance
540
MEMBERS OF THE GREATER COLLEGE
COMMUNITY PROVIDED INPUT AT MEETINGS
AND THROUGH SURVEYS
97
APPLICATIONS RECEIVED BY THE
JAN. 8 DEADLINE
49
TOTAL INTERVIEWERS REPRESENTING
FACULTY, STAFF, STUDENTS, ALUMNI
AND TRUSTEES
43
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
MEETINGS
23
ADDITIONAL FACULTY, STAFF, STUDENTS
AND TRUSTEES INVITED TO INTERVIEW
FINAL CANDIDATES
15
SEARCH COMMITTEE MEMBERS
REPRESENTING FACULTY, STAFF,
STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND TRUSTEES
4
FINALISTS MET WITH SEARCH COMMITTEE
AND INVITED INTERVIEWERS OFF CAMPUS
1
UNANIMOUS CHOICE FOR
CONNECTICUT COLLEGE'S 12TH
PRESIDENT
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