Williams names Majumder interim president Jan. 1 pending search for Falk's successor

THE FOLLOWING IS THE TEXT OF AN EMAIL SENT TO THE MEDIA THIS MORNING BY THE NEWS OFFICE AT WILLIAMS COLLEGE SIGNED BY MICHAEL EISENSON, TRUSTEE CHAIRMAN. 

To the Williams Community, 
  
I hope you are all enjoying the last days of summer, and looking forward, as I am, to the new academic year. 
  
As you know, President Adam Falk recently announced that he will leave Williams at the end of December to become president of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. In my role as chair of the college's Board of Trustees, I have been asked by the Board to lead our search for Adam's successor. I am writing today to inform you of our considerable progress in organizing the process, and to share with you our plan for interim college leadership beginning in January of 2018, which was approved by the Board of Trustees yesterday. 
  
First, I am pleased to inform you that Protik (Tiku) Majumder, Barclay Jermain Professor of Natural Philosophy and Director of the Science Center, has graciously agreed to serve as interim president, starting January 1, 2018, and continuing until the new president is in place. Tiku has an outstanding record as a Williams teacher and mentor, scientist, and faculty leader, and just as importantly has earned wide trust and respect across the Williams community. Our objective was to find an interim president with a keen understanding of our institution; a love of Williams, of its students, and of its faculty; enormous patience, tact, and insight; and an ability to respond with intelligence, compassion, and calm to the inevitable challenges that will arise from time to time. Tiku has each of these qualities, and many more. He will do a superb job of keeping Williams on track, and I ask you to join me in thanking him and supporting his leadership. 
  
Second, we have formed a Presidential Search Committee whose charge will be to present to the Board of Trustees one or more exceptional and thoroughly vetted candidates to become our next president, and to ensure that every member of the Williams community has an opportunity to give input with respect to qualities that we should be seeking, as well as to offer nominations. The Search Committee includes representatives from every sector of our community: students, staff, alumni, faculty, and trustees. Several members are also Williams parents. As their backgrounds indicate, each brings deep involvement with the College. Service on the committee will require significant time and effort, and I am personally grateful to the members for their dedication to Williams and their willingness to take on this essential task. 
  
The members of the committee are: 
  

Michael Eisenson '77, Trustee and Chair of the Search Committee 
O. Andreas Halvorsen '86, Trustee 
Clarence Otis, Jr. '77, Trustee 
Kate L. Queeney '92, Trustee 
Liz Robinson '90, Trustee 
Martha Williamson '77, Trustee 
  
Ngonidzashe Munemo, Associate Dean for Institutional Diversity and Associate Professor of Political Science 
Peter Murphy, John Hawley Roberts Professor of English 
Lucie Schmidt, Professor of Economics 
Tom Smith '88, Professor of Chemistry 
Safa Zaki, Professor of Psychology 
  
Chris Winters '95, Associate Provost 
  
Jordan G. Hampton '87, President, Society of Alumni 
Yvonne Hao '95, alumna and Trustee Emerita 
  
Ben Gips '19, student representative 
Sarah Hollinger '19, student representative 

  
Keli Gail, Secretary of the Board of Trustees and principal staff to the committee 
  
Third, the board has retained the firm Spencer Stuart as consultant, to help manage the search process. Spencer Stuart has been involved in numerous recent and successful academic searches at the highest levels, and is very well positioned to help the committee in its work. Searches like this are complex and sensitive, and we expect to benefit greatly from their expertise, specialized resources, and pool of outstanding candidates. 
  
The Search Committee will begin its work shortly, and we will announce opportunities for community input as these are developed. As a first step, we have created a website where you can find information and materials related to the search. We will add to the site as additional materials are available, as further process steps are scheduled, and as we have news to share. Our future email updates will link back to this site as the place of record for search news. 
  
On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I want to again thank the members of the Presidential Search Committee for the work they are about to do, and Tiku Majumder for his service as interim president. I also want to convey to our entire community our enthusiasm and optimism as we set out to find the 18th president of Williams College. 
  
Sincerely, 
  

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Michael Eisenson '77 
Chair, Williams College Board of Trustees

https://president.williams.edu/presidential-search/

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Noelle Lemoine

Communications Assistant
Williams College Office of Communications
phone: 413.597.4277
www.williams.edu