CLINTON, N.Y. — The upcoming academic year at Hamilton College will be the last for the school’s top official. Hamilton College President David Wippman on May 16 announced that he will retire on June 30, 2024, after completing eight years leading the college in Clinton. Throughout his tenure, the school set new benchmarks in student […]
CLINTON, N.Y. — The upcoming academic year at Hamilton College will be the last for the school’s top official.
Hamilton College President David Wippman on May 16 announced that he will retire on June 30, 2024, after completing eight years leading the college in Clinton.
Throughout his tenure, the school set new benchmarks in student recruitment, including applications, selectivity, and yield; socioeconomic, racial, ethnic, and geographic diversity; and test scores and class rank, Hamilton College said in a news release. The number of first-generation-to-college and Pell grant-eligible students also increased.
“I will have served eight years when my tenure concludes next summer,” Wippman said. “My time at Hamilton has been the most satisfying of my career. I have watched with pride as entering classes have set records for quality, selectivity, and diversity; new and renovated buildings have enhanced an already beautiful campus; teacher-scholars of the highest caliber have made Hamilton their home; and trustees, alumni, parents, and friends have given generously of their time and resources.”
As nearly half of its professors began reaching retirement, Hamilton hired and promoted “large numbers” of teacher-scholars and added seven new professorships, including two endowed professorships in computer science, the college said.
“David Wippman has been an exceptional president at an especially challenging time,” David Solomon, chair of the Hamilton College board of trustees, said in the release. “He is highly effective and widely admired, and his presidency has been marked by success on all measures. We are grateful for his leadership in making Hamilton an even stronger and more highly regarded institution.”
Solomon said that from Wippman’s earliest days as president, he focused on bringing the “most talented” students to Hamilton College, providing the scholarship aid they needed to enroll, and offering them “greater opportunities for intellectual engagement” and increased support for their personal growth and well-being.
Hamilton College also adopted several new programs during Wippman’s tenure. These include Digital Hamilton, an initiative to expand digital-learning opportunities using advanced technologies across disciplines.
They also included the ALEX program, a coordinated network of academic centers, resources, and advisors for students; and Common Ground, a program “to explore cross-boundary political thought and complex social issues.” Wippman and a co-author modeled Common Ground’s call for active citizenship and intellectual engagement by publishing more than 40 op-eds since 2019 on issues pertaining to higher education, addressing such topics as academic freedom, affirmative action in college admissions, campus civility, cancel culture, and foreign-language proficiency, Hamilton College said.