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The Sarah Lawrence College Board of Trustees gathered on campus for its annual May meeting—one of three meetings held each academic year—during the weekend of the College’s 94th Commencement. Atop the agenda for this two-day meeting was the election of Meryl Rosen ’82 as Chair of the Board. Rosen, whose three-year term as Chair began at the conclusion of the May meeting, succeeds Mark P. Goodman ’83, who served as chair for six years and as a member of the Board of Trustees for a remarkable total of 22 years.
Rosen, an attorney in the commercial litigation area and a former account executive at The Chicago Winter Company, was chosen to lead the Board after six years of service as a trustee, two as Vice Chair. An exceptionally active and involved alumna and trustee, she has served on the Executive, Finance, Trustee Governance, Student Life, and Enrollment Committees of the Board. She also served on the College’s campaign steering committee, was a member of the Alumni Association, and frequently volunteers as an admission interviewer in her hometown of Chicago, Illinois.
Goodman’s departure from the Board concludes an extraordinary period of service and leadership. His steady guidance was essential to the College’s progress during a period of tumult for higher education, bracketed by the Great Recession and the COVID pandemic. In the midst of this period, he oversaw the transition between the presidencies of Karen Lawrence and Cristle Collins Judd, participated actively in the College’s $200 million capital campaign, and worked closely with the College’s senior leadership to advance the Sarah Lawrence mission. Though retiring from the Board, Goodman is continuing his professional work as a senior litigation partner at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, co-chairing that firm’s Commercial Litigation Group, serving as a senior member of its White Collar & Regulatory Defense Group, and leading its Healthcare & Life Sciences Practice.
In honor of Goodman’s years of dedicated service to the Board, and in recognition of his mentorship of students interested in careers in law and public service, the Board named the College’s annual pre-law alumni panel The Mark P. Goodman ’83 Alumni Lawyer Panel.
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Board Comings & Goings
The May Board meeting also saw celebrations in honor of three trustees who this year completed their terms of service, and a warm welcome to two new trustees elected during the proceedings. Cycling off the Board are William Goetzmann P ’16, John Hodson P ’19, ’20, and Nancy Montgomery ’64, who collectively brought to the College expertise in the areas of investments, finance, and governance. Elected to the Board for an initial term of five years each are Gwendolyn Perry Davis and Kathy Yeu P ’15.
Davis is the Senior Director of Operations at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art, where she provides direction and oversight for daily operational functions across a number of areas. As a member of the museum’s senior leadership team, she plays a key cross-functional role in strategizing, managing, and implementing initiatives to help achieve the museum’s strategic plans.
Yeu is a founder and coach at LEAP, a personal branding initiative comprised of branding professionals and life coaches. Prior to coaching, she spent nearly 25 years in financial services, holding senior positions with Washington Mutual, Provident Financial, Charles Schwab, and American Express. Yeu previously served a three-year term on the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Panel of Judges.
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Faculty Tenure
The Board of Trustees reviewed the recommendation from the Advisory Committee and the Educational Policies Committee of the Board and unanimously approved the conferral of tenure for Meredith Frey, a member of the Physics faculty since 2016, Frey holds a BA from Wellesley College and a PhD from Yale University. Last summer, she and Chemistry faculty member Colin Abernethy were awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation through its Improving Undergraduate STEM Education program. The grant supports Merideth and Colin’s work in the field of science education focusing on nuclear magnetic resonance. Merideth is passionate about diversifying the field of physics; she has served on the College’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and has given presentations on her strategies for inclusive pedagogies at meetings of the American Association of Physics Teachers.
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Remembering Rachel Zebrowski
The May Board meeting was not without its somber moments, as Trustees mourned the death in April of alumna and longtime Board member Rachel Williams Zebrowski ’73. A staunch champion of the College and its mission, Rachel was a Trustee from 2012 until her death, and served as Chair of the Physical Facilities Committee. She selflessly used her professional talents and expertise to provide essential guidance and leadership on capital improvement projects, deeply and positively impacting a campus that was dear to her heart. To honor Rachel’s memory, the Board dedicated the recently refurbished patio of the Ruth Leff Siegel Center in her name, and a plaque will be installed this summer. The board also conferred upon her posthumously the honor of Trustee emerita.
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The first meeting of the Board of Trustees in the 2022-23 academic year will be held in October.