STATEMENT OF THE CHAIR OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
JEFFREY D. RIESTER, '70
On the Occasion of the Introduction to the Campus Community
of Lawrence University's 15th President
It is with great pleasure and pride that I announce the appointment of Jill Beck as the 15th president of Lawrence University, effective on July 1. She will succeed Richard Warch, who has announced his retirement at the end of this academic year after 25 years as president.
Jill Beck brings us an exceptional breadth of academic, leadership, administrative, and fund-raising experience, as well as a passionate commitment to the liberal arts and music, cornerstones of Lawrence's educational experience. She has a B.A. degree in philosophy and art history from Clark University, a liberal arts institution in Worcester, Massachusetts, an M.A. degree in history and music from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and a Ph.D. in theatre history and criticism from City University of New York.
In her application letter, Dr. Beck told us, "The nature of my college education made an essential difference in my life, and I would like to return to a small liberal arts environment in order to help shape for others the kinds of life-transforming experiences from which I continue to benefit."
Dr. Beck is a nationally recognized leader in arts education. From 1995 to 2003 she was dean of the School of the Arts at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). She raised more than $22 million over a three-year period and led the school from near insolvency to greater prominence and financial stability.
At UCI, Dr. Beck also established and is now the director of the da Vinci Research Center for Learning Through the Arts. This is a research center involving faculty and students in the sciences, the arts, and the social sciences in research initiatives about learning across disciplines.
She also serves as director of ArtsBridge America, an outreach program between universities and schools that began under her leadership at UCI in 1996, and that is now at work in seventeen other universities in nine states. This program is funded by a public, private, and corporate partnership. Each year the program brings new scholarship resources to about 1,000 university students, who offer experientially based instruction in the arts to schoolchildren.
In addition to her broader responsibilities, Dr. Beck holds the title of professor of dance at UCI. Her own field, more specifically, is dance, choreography, and dance education. She has directed ballet and modern dance repertory and also written about dance and the arts more broadly.
The appointment of Jill Beck was recommended by a 15-member Presidential Search Committee chaired by Robert C. Buchanan, a trustee and member of the Class of 1962 at Lawrence. The committee represented Lawrence trustees, alumni, faculty, students, and administrative staff. It began its work a year ago, conducted a national search, and ended its work with the unanimous recommendation of Jill Beck. The Lawrence Board of Trustees approved the recommendation unanimously at its winter meeting today.
The position prospectus that the search committee developed to guide our search stated that, "Above all, the next president of Lawrence University must be a true leader, able to combine a clear personal vision for the institution with a sincere commitment to collaboration, all in pursuit of an ever stronger and more secure institution." In Jill Beck, we have found that person. She is the right person for Lawrence as the college enters its 158th year.
Dr. Beck is superbly qualified to become the college's 15th president. Those of us who have had the privilege of meeting with her during the search have been impressed by her boundless energy and enthusiasm and optimism and also by the confidence, knowledge, and judgment she exhibits. We believe she has the personal attributes and the requisite leadership skills to guide Lawrence in the years ahead and to lead the college to further distinction and achievement.
In the coming months, I trust you will join me in welcoming Jill Beck and her husband Robert Beck, a professor of education at UCI and author, and in supporting her as she takes on the responsibilities of the Lawrence presidency.
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