Dartmouth College will welcome female president for first time in its history

The Dartmouth College board of trustees elected the school’s first female president last week.

Sian Leah Beilock, a cognitive scientist who is currently serving as the president of Barnard College, will become the 19th president of Dartmouth College, according to a release from Dartmouth. She will assume the role at the beginning of July next year.

“Sian is a leader with the aspirational vision to build our research enterprise, further our tradition of excellence in undergraduate education, and expand our global impact,” said the chairwoman of the board of trustees, Elizabeth Cahill Lempres, in a statement.

She added, “Sian’s election in this, our 50th year of coeducation at Dartmouth, was enthusiastic and unanimous.”

Beilock’s presidency will follow that of Philip J. Hanlon, a mathematician and computer scientist who will have served as president of Dartmouth for 10 years when he steps down next summer.

Before her tenure at Barnard, Beilock served as executive vice provost at the University of Chicago while working as a psychology professor and university officer.

“It is an immense honor to join Dartmouth, one of the nation’s most storied institutions of higher learning, and I am even more deeply moved by what lies ahead,” said Beilock in a statement in response to her election. “I am grateful to the board of trustees for their confidence and to all those who have welcomed me so warmly during the search process and shared their profound dedication to the institution.”

The chairwoman of the Barnard board of trustees, Cheryl Glicker Milstein, emphasized the growth in diversity and academic excellence at the college during Beilock’s tenure as president, among other advances.

“That growth has been especially remarkable under Sian’s leadership, advancing our core mission and values through a historically challenging time,” she said in a statement.