Williams College Names Interim President
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Williams College professor Protik (Tiku) Majumder has been named the college's interim president, effective Jan. 1, 2018, until a new president is in place.
Majumder will replace current President Adam Falk, who announced in June he would leave Williams at the end of December to become president of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. He has served as president since 2010.
The Williams College Board of Trustees approved the appointment of Majumder on Monday.
Majumder currently serves as the Barclay Jermain professor of Natural Philosophy and director of the Science Center. In a letter to the college community on Tuesday, Michael Eisenson, chairman of the board of trustees, wrote that Majumder "graciously" agreed to accept the role.
"Tiku has an outstanding record as a Williams teacher and mentor, scientist, and faculty leader, and just as importantly has earned wide trust and respect across the Williams community," Eisenson wrote. "Our objective was to find an interim president with a keen understanding of our institution, a love of Williams, of its students, and of its faculty, enormous patience, tact, and insight, and an ability to respond with intelligence, compassion, and calm to the inevitable challenges that will arise from time to time.
"Tiku has each of these qualities, and many more. He will do a superb job of keeping Williams on track."
Eisenson said the trustees have formed a Presidential Search Committee charged with presenting to the fill board candidates to become the next president, as well as with ensuring that every member of the Williams community has an opportunity to give input with respect to qualities sought in a new presidents. The Search Committee includes representatives from every sector of the Williams community: students, staff, alumni, faculty, and trustees. Several members are also Williams parents.
The board has retained the firm Spencer Stuart as consultant, to help manage the search process. Spencer Stuart has been involved in numerous recent and successful academic searches at the highest levels, according to Eisenson, who wrote that presidential searches are "complex and sensitive."
The Search Committee will begin its work shortly; as a first step, it has created a website to find information and materials related to the search.
"On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I want to again thank the members of the Presidential Search Committee for the work they are about to do, and Tiku Majumder for his service as interim president," Eisenson wrote. "I also want to convey to our entire community our enthusiasm and optimism as we set out to find the 18th president of Williams College."
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