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September 3, 2025
Dear Mount Holyoke community,

Welcome to the Fall 2025 semester! I am delighted to welcome back faculty, staff, returning students — including the red pegasus seniors! — and new members of our scholarly community: 546 green griffin first-year students, 15 transfer students, new Frances Perkins Scholars and new graduate students. These students come from 37 states and 44 countries around the globe.

This year’s Convocation ceremony was an energetic celebration of our community and the Mount Holyoke ethos. Our students took the opportunity to voice their support for our staff then on the picket lines. I share their respect and concern. I invite all students, faculty and staff to join me for an in-person community forum on Sept. 3, at 4:45 pm in Chapin Auditorium to discuss the ongoing labor negotiations.

MHC Forward Momentum

Mount Holyoke has serious ! Designated last spring as an undergraduate research institution by the Carnegie Foundation, we are building on our academic excellence. Over the past three years, we’ve hired 31 new tenure-track faculty. This year we welcome an additional nine tenure-track faculty in biological sciences, classics, education, English, history, politics, sociology and Spanish. We’ve also launched an Innovation Fund for faculty to support groundbreaking, imaginative teaching — particularly project-based learning and interdisciplinary co-teaching. Innovation Fund projects are already underway in the areas of applied ethics as well as neuroscience, Spanish and community outreach.

MHC’s student experience continues to be a top priority. Building on the recommendations submitted by last year’s MHC Forward working groups, three new shared governance groups will convene this fall to guide the work of these three key areas:

• A Strategic Enrollment Plan Steering Committee.
• A Student Success Oversight Committee, with a First Year Experience subcommittee.
• A Career Readiness in the Liberal Arts Advisory Group.

The College’s Affirming Practices for Trans and Gender Non Conforming People Working Group, which was paused last year for the Presidential Task Force for the TGNC Community, will resume its work as a permanent group.

We are making important strides in operational leadership. Our project to modernize our technology systems continues to make good progress. This year we will finalize a , advance and integrate our geothermal energy project into this comprehensive plan and attend to much-needed campus renewal. Our facilities teams were hard at work this summer on projects in Kendall, the Rockies, Mead and the Mandelles. In the arena of resource stewardship, we continue to carefully prepare for a fundraising campaign that will help us achieve our audacious goals.

We are energetically engaging with alums and sharing all the excitement on campus with them. In fact, dozens of Mount Holyoke’s most dedicated volunteers will converge on campus October 18–19 for a Volunteer Leadership Summit. The gathering is a key moment to energize our alum volunteers and prepare them to be confident ambassadors for Mount Holyoke's mission and the MHC Forward strategic plan during the campaign. We eagerly await their arrival!

The Year Ahead

Events

I am proud to be at the helm of Mount Holyoke at this moment of promise and possibility. We are focused on our future, but, as Board Chair Sally Durdan ’81 said so wisely at Convocation, that future is built on the vision, wisdom and generosity of alums and supporters of the past. In July, we lost visionary President Emerita Elizabeth “Liz” Topham Kennan ’60. President Kennan was a beloved force of nature. She was known for her stirring speeches, passion for horses and devotion to the common good. Under her leadership Mount Holyoke achieved record financial stability and growth, developed innovative curricula and acquired cutting-edge scientific equipment and technologies. We will honor President Emerita Kennan with a in Abbey Chapel. The service will also be livestreamed.

A few other dates to note: Beverly Daniel Tatum, president emerita of Spelman College and my immediate predecessor here in Mary Lyon Hall, will be on campus on , to discuss her new book, “.” She and I will be in conversation in Gamble Auditorium at 5 pm. The first 25 students to arrive will receive a free copy of the book. Dr. Tatum will be available to sign books at the close of the event.

The Springfield Public Forum is bringing to Springfield on Monday, Oct. 27. Mount Holyoke is a sponsor of the event, and I have been invited to be on stage in conversation with her. The College has received a select number of tickets to the event; please be on the lookout for information about how to request one.

Finally, Dec. 4–5 we will hold a symposium in honor of the late congresswoman Nita Lowey ’59. Another principled and purposeful leader, Congresswoman Lowey served for 16 terms in the House of Representatives and was the first woman chair of the House Appropriations Committee. During her tenure in Congress, Lowey sponsored and cosponsored numerous bills, including the International Violence Against Women Act, Protect Access to Birth Control Act, The Heroes Act and Further Continuing Appropriations Act. Symposium plans are still taking shape, but they will include a keynote speech as well as panels on Congresswoman Lowey’s legacy and on Mount Holyoke’s storied strength and bright future in law, public policy and public service.

2025–26 MHC Forward Working Groups

On Sept. 2, our Convocation presenters spoke eloquently about the theme of sustainability, which will be a foundational focus at Mount Holyoke this year. A Sustainability Working Group will be one of three new MHC Forward cross-College working groups. Sponsored by Provost Lisa Sullivan and Vice President for Finance and Administration Carl Ries, its charge will be to create a Climate Justice and Action Plan that boldly articulates our commitment to teaching and research on climate change and sustainability, and our active work to reduce operational impacts on the local and global environment. I will also convene a Cultivating Creativity Working Group, sponsored by Provost Sullivan and Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students Marcella Runell, to enhance frameworks for creation, innovation, invention and entrepreneurship at MHC. Finally, an AI Working Group sponsored by Provost Sullivan and CIO Alex Wirth-Cauchon will explore the ramifications of artificial intelligence for the academic program and for College operations.

A Challenging Moment for Higher Education

This summer’s headlines have been sobering. The federal government’s overreach into higher education is threatening the very nature of academic freedom. Forged in dissent, Mount Holyoke remains steadfast in our mission and values. We are uplifting others, challenging injustice and driving change. I thank everyone for their work to continue living our values at this fraught time. I also thank all who have made gifts totaling $670,000 since last spring to the , a powerful resource to meet pressing needs, defend academic freedom and sustain our inclusive mission. I am proud to be part of this remarkable institution.

I wish our entire community a happy, productive and intellectually engaging fall semester. I look forward to seeing many of you at the in-person community forum on Sept. 3 at 4:45 pm in Chapin Auditorium.

Sincerely,

Danielle R. Holley 
President