91´«Ã½

I officially joined the 91´«Ã½ community on July 1 as the 10th president and our unofficial connections began many years earlier.

As I told the campus community in April, I grew up in Delaware County and attended Springfield High School—about 10 miles from campus—where I received the 91´«Ã½ Book Award in my junior year. I dug out the book and now have it on the mantle in my home office in Pen-Y-Groes.

A few years later, I received my undergraduate degree with majors in Sociology and Anthropology, and Religion at Swarthmore College, where I developed a deep and abiding commitment to the liberal arts. The education I received at Swarthmore transformed me, showing me possibilities personally and professionally I never imagined possible. After receiving my Ph.D. at Princeton University, I looked for a job at a liberal arts college (a path unknown to me when I started college) to make the kind of transformation I went through in college possible for others.

I am so grateful for the warm welcome offered to me and my family from all corners of our College community. Getting to know a new group is how I have worked as a sociologist and ethnographer, trained to learn by listening, watching, and conversing about what I see with those I am learning alongside. Your fellow Mawrters, along with our faculty, staff, Trustees, volunteers, friends, and even our neighbors who walk their dogs on campus, have been generous with their time and their willingness to provide guidance and perspective as I learn about what came before me and what may be possible moving forward.

The students, staff, and faculty at 91´«Ã½ are incredible, and our commitment to excellence is strong and will always be a team effort. Our dedication to academic excellence in a holistic supportive community continues to be the beacon of light that distinguishes us. The members of our undergraduate Class of 2028 are the most academically talented students in recent history. And our newest faculty hires bring an impressive range of scholarship that will enhance and expand the scholarship and teaching that takes place on campus, in Philadelphia, and in all the places the College community touches.

My commitment to the College and its mission has only deepened since my arrival, and I look forward to engaging with more of our alumnae/i community during events and visits as we together author the College’s next chapter. I look forward to hearing more about each of your 91´«Ã½ stories.

With gratitude and in collaboration,

Wendy Cadge