The following message from President Walter Harrison was sent to faculty and staff by e-mail this morning (Monday, Nov. 2).

Please Note: You can watch the live webcast of Pasquerella being introduced to the Mount Holyoke community today (Nov. 2) at 4:15 p.m. at www.mtholyoke.edu/newpresident/


Faculty and Staff
University of Hartford

Dear Colleagues:

I write with the simultaneously happy and sad news that Lynn Pasquerella has been named president of Mount Holyoke College, her alma mater. Approved by Mount Holyoke’s board on Saturday, she will take office on July 1, 2010. Happily, she will remain with us as provost until that date.

What I told the people at Mount Holyoke when they asked for a quote for their announcement, and what I say to you now, is my heartfelt belief that “Lynn Pasquerella is a powerful intellectual force, a dynamic and compassionate leader, and a charismatic and wonderful human being. I am as fond of her as anyone I have ever worked with, and our whole community will be devastated that she is leaving after only a year and a half as provost. But we are all so very proud of her. In the vocabulary of her favorite sport (and mine), Mount Holyoke has hit a home run.” (To view the Mount Holyoke press release, go to www.mtholyoke.edu/newpresident/).

Fortunately, I have had a little time to think about this news, and I have talked with Tom Groark, chair of the Board of Regents, about quickly forming a search committee so that we may recruit and identify a new provost and have someone in place by the time Lynn leaves next summer. I will write you about that search committee in a week or so.

I know that accepting this offer has been a very difficult decision for Lynn since she is so committed to the University of Hartford’s mission and its community. She will be writing to you within a few days to express this in her own words.

In the meantime, let me know if you have any questions. And please join me in cheering and crying at the same time as Lynn accepts this important position. She and Mount Holyoke have a very bright future indeed.

Sincerely,

Walter Harrison
President