Nugent '73 named Kenyon president

Dean Georgia Nugent '73 has been chosen to serve as the 18th president of Kenyon College in Ohio, David W. Horvitz, Kenyon's chair of the board of trustees announced Monday.

She will step down from her current position as dean of the University's Harold McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning to assume her new post in July.

"It's a loss, but it's an enormous point of pride for us," said Thomas Wright '62, vice president and secretary of the University.

Nugent is the only female graduate of Princeton to become a full time faculty member and member of the senior administration, said Robert Durkee '69, vice president of public affairs.

"Her relationship to Princeton has above all represented a range of experiences that prepare her exceptionally well to be president of the college," Wright said.

After graduating from Princeton's first coed class in 1973, Nugent earned a Ph.D. in classics from Cornell University and embarked on a career that would foster her development as a teacher and administrator.

Nugent returned to Princeton as an assistant professor in 1979, between teaching stints at Swarthmore College and Brown University, where she received the Wriston Award for Excellence in Teaching.

She returned to Princeton once again and was appointed assistant to President Shapiro and associate provost in 1995.

Nugent became dean of the Harold McGraw Center six years later and has served as lecturer in the classics dept. throughout her tenure.

The Kenyon Board of Trustees appointed a Presidential Search Committee in April 2002, and a panel of students interviewed the top three candidates in January 2003.

"I think that she has such a really dynamic personality," said Grace Murray, a Kenyon sophomore and member of the student panel.

"When we met her we were all impressed right away," Murray said. "She's done a lot of amazing things at Princeton and I think that she's really committed to teaching and has a clear vision of why she wants to be here."

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Murray said she thought that Nugent, Kenyon College's first female president, would represent the college's changing student body well during her tenure.