FIrst Day on the Job for Thiel’s New President
GREENVILLE, Pa. – The first female president at Thiel College starts her new job today.
Susan Traverso was selected by Thiel’s Board of Trustees in May to become the college’s 20th president and the first female to hold the post. Previously, Traverso served as the provost and senior vice president at Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pa.
Traverso brings student-centered strategies and a focus on successful graduate outcomes to Thiel College and has served in various leadership roles at distinguished colleges and universities across the country, the college said. Traverso’s initiatives at Elizabethtown College included creating a special office for sponsored research and programs, developing a school of continuing and professional studies, and establishing a center for community and civic engagement.
The new president also plans to build on her significant fundraising experience. At Elizabethtown, she coordinated $60 million in campus improvements and advanced fundraising priorities that resulted in $20 million of external funding for that college.
Traverso’s fundraising skills will be a key component as she looks to maintain the momentum of Thiel College’s record-breaking Thiel 2016 Campaign—which has raised more than $61 million—and continues through the end of this year.
“It is both a privilege and pleasure to welcome Dr. Susan Traverso as our 20th president,” said Barry Stamm, chairman of the board of trustees. “With Dr. Traverso’s extensive background in higher education, collaborative leadership style and many impressive academic accomplishments, she was the unanimous choice of the board and overwhelming favorite of the college community for this vital position. I look forward to her presidency, which I am confident will be a time of significant growth and achievement for Thiel College.”
Traverso earned her doctoral and master’s degrees in history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a bachelor’s degree in history and communications from Simmons College in Boston.
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