Connecticut College’s Eleventh President
Katherine Bergeron is the 11th president of Connecticut College. During her tenure, she has worked to advance the College’s reputation by building its academic, residential, community, and financial strength. Starting in 2014, Bergeron vigorously supported the faculty’s development of Connections, a bold new venture in interdisciplinary education, designed to prepare students for leadership in an interconnected world. During this same period, Connecticut College received some of the largest single gifts in its history to enhance financial aid, career education, academic support, athletics, and the arts. Supporting capital projects have included the renovation of the Charles E. Shain Library, the creation of both the Walter Commons for Global Study and Engagement and the Hale Center for Career Development, and, most recently, the revitalization of the College’s historic art deco theater into the Nancy Athey ’72 and Preston Athey Center for Performance and Research at Palmer Auditorium. Currently underway are the renewal of the College’s riverfront for sailing, rowing, and marine science; and the completion of the Stark Center of the Moving Image as a new home for film studies.
A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Wesleyan University, Bergeron earned master’s and doctoral degrees in music history from Cornell University, and wrote two prize-winning books on French music and culture. Before coming to Connecticut College, she was dean of the college and professor of music at Brown University. She serves as Past-Chair of the Board of the Council of Independent Colleges; on the Board of the American Academic Leadership Institute; on the Board of the Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut; on the Board of Directors of the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra. Previously, she was on the Board of the Association of American Colleges and Universities. She has hosted a podcast, Think. Do. Lead., about creativity and innovation, and has co-taught, with her husband, media artist Butch Rovan, a course on songwriting that has yielded three albums of original songs by Connecticut College students. She and her husband also wrote and produced a new version of the Connecticut College alma mater, “Alma Mater by the Sea,” and performed it with talented staff and student colleagues for the Class of 2020 Commencement.