After nearly year-long search, Connecticut College names Massachusetts native as next president

Connecticut College is set to get a new president after a nearly year-long search.

Andrea Chapdelaine, president of Hood College in Frederick, MD, was unanimously appointed by Connecticut College’s Board of Trustees this week.

“President-elect Chapdelaine is a proven higher education leader of a diverse student body and an administrator with a passion for and commitment to the mission of liberal arts colleges,” said Board of Trustees Chair Debo P. Adegbile, who co-chaired the search committee. “She has a track record of success in consensus-building and sound financial stewardship, as well as a clear understanding of both the complexities and possibilities for liberal arts colleges and their students.”

Chapdelaine, a Chicopee, Mass. native, has been president of Hood College since 2015. She also has a Connecticut background, holding both a master’s and doctoral degree in social psychology from the University of Connecticut, according to her biography. Chapdelaine also taught at Trinity College in Hartford from 1995 to 1998 as a visiting assistant professor before joining the psychology faculty at Albright College. Chapdelaine also served as dean of undergraduate studies, provost and vice president of academic affairs at Albright before joining Hood.

“In this pivotal moment for Conn and for higher education broadly, she inspires enthusiasm for what our college can do as we build on our 113-year-old mission and more recent achievements. She has the vision, experience and management capabilities to lead our college community forward.”

Nationally, Chapdelaine is a member of the American Association of Colleges and Universities and the Council of Independent Colleges board of directors, according to her biography.

“I am thrilled to be joining Connecticut College, an esteemed liberal arts college that educates students to ‘put the liberal arts into action as citizens in a global society,’ a mission that deeply resonates with my own professional endeavors and interests,” Chapdelaine said. “My first responsibility as the 12th president is to learn and embrace the College’s core values, points of pride and shared aspirations, and then work with the entire College community to articulate a collective vision of an exciting future grounded in Conn’s rich history.”

She will succeed Interim President Leslie E. Wong, who took over from President Emerita Katherine Bergeron, who served as the college’s 11th president from 2014 to 2023.

Chapdelaine will begin her tenure on July 1, 2024.

Stephen Underwood can be reached at sunderwood@courant.com