President

Swarthmore College, one of the world’s premier liberal arts institutions, seeks a visionary leader with a deep commitment to rigorous intellectual engagement and a profound belief in the transformative power of the liberal arts to steer the College as the institution’s 16th president and the Roy J. and Linda G. Shanker Presidential Chair.

Swarthmore was founded in 1864 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Though the College is now nonsectarian, Quaker values — including commitments to the pursuit of knowledge, respect for the natural world, peaceful resolution of differences, and a spirit of collaboration and equality — still resonate powerfully at Swarthmore. Notably, the College was coeducational from its outset; believed talent, not financial means, should open the door to learning; integrated science and the humanities early in its history; and embraced intellectual rigor in service of the common good long before such ideas became associated with modern concepts of social responsibility.

Located just outside Philadelphia on an idyllic 425-acre arboretum campus, Swarthmore enrolls approximately 1,700 students and benefits from an endowment of $2.9 billion. The College is home to a distinguished community exceptional for its academic excellence and ethical scholarship, and is distinctive among liberal arts colleges for its accredited engineering program, robust undergraduate research opportunities, and signature Honors Program. The College’s extraordinary faculty are both talented scholars and dedicated teachers, leading in their fields while also providing close engagement with students.

Swarthmore students, among the most talented, say they emerge from this close-knit, intellectually engaged community having learned how to think. This prepares them for lives of leadership and impact on the world’s most pressing issues. Swarthmore alumni include six Nobel Prize winners, 14 MacArthur “Genius” Fellows, 28 Rhodes Scholars, and thousands more who have received the highest distinctions across the arts, business, government, and beyond. In fact, Swarthmore alumni have received doctoral degrees at the third-highest rate across all American institutions in the last decade, exceeding not only other liberal arts colleges but most of the world’s top research institutions.

The College believes that this kind of excellence goes hand in hand with making education accessible, regardless of a student’s economic circumstances. That is why Swarthmore is among only a few liberal arts institutions with a need-blind admissions policy, admitting domestic students without considering their ability to pay tuition and fees. The College also meets 100% of every student’s demonstrated financial need — including international students — through loan-free aid. During the 2025-26 academic year, 56% of Swarthmore students received aid, and starting in 2027, the Swarthmore Tuition Guarantee will cover at least the full cost of tuition for any student whose family earns $200,000 or less. The commitment to reducing barriers to participation also extends beyond financial aid; through initiatives such as a cash-free campus and textbook affordability program, Swarthmore seeks to ensure that all students can fully engage in the campus experience.

After more than a decade of thoughtful leadership under outgoing President Valerie Smith, Swarthmore enters this transition from a position of considerable strength. The College combines exceptional financial resources, a well-maintained physical campus, and a strong senior leadership team with a deep commitment to academic excellence. Recent initiatives — including a new interdisciplinary technology and media center, the tuition guarantee program, and major sustainability initiatives that will enable the College to achieve campus carbon neutrality by 2035 — reflect a community that continues to invest confidently in its future.

But the next president will assume leadership at a consequential moment for higher education. Like its peers, the College faces a rapidly changing environment shaped by technological disruption, evolving student expectations, significant demographic shifts, rising costs, political polarization, and increasing public scrutiny of higher education.

Swarthmore therefore seeks a president to both nurture the qualities that make the College distinctive and chart a compelling, confident vision for its future. The next president must be an innovative, inspiring intellectual leader, an excellent manager, a trusted community builder, and a persuasive public advocate for Swarthmore and for the enduring importance of liberal arts education. This role presents a unique, once-in-a-career opportunity: to work with some of the world’s most talented and dedicated scholars, at a moment of profound global change, and at an institution where one leader can make a transformative impact that endures for generations.

To conduct this search, the Swarthmore College Board of Managers has named a 15-person search committee that includes broad representation from the institution’s faculty, staff, students, alumni, and Managers. The committee is assisted by the executive search firm Isaacson, Miller. All inquiries, nominations, and applications will remain confidential and should be directed below.

Kate Barry is leading this search with Elizabeth Weithman and Diana Carmona.