The latest leader of Hampshire College is a scientist whose passions mirror the school’s nearly 50-year commitment to experimental and interdisciplinary education.
Miriam E. Nelson, known as “Mim,” was named the college’s seventh president on Tuesday, after a year-long, national search for a successor to Jonathan Lash, who will retire in June. Nelson, 57, who begins her new job July 1, was the unanimous choice of a 17-member search committee representing trustees, faculty, staff and students.
“The thought of leading a college like Hampshire, that is willing to take risks, to be on the cutting edge, is what I’m really excited about,” said Nelson, adding that the college’s students are “intelligent, creative and push the envelope” in embracing an innovative approach to education “that resonates with me.”
In describing herself as “at heart, an entrepreneur,” and ticking off “sustainability, social justice, democracy, environmental integrity and the arts” as among her passions, Nelson echoed themes familiar to many Hampshire students as they construct their individual academic programs.
While acknowledging the challenges she will face as a college president — including the nationwide decrease in undergraduate enrollment that means increased competition among institutions — Nelson said Hampshire provides an ideal platform from which to “reimagine what higher education looks like.”
Nelson has an impressive resume as a public health and nutrition researcher, teacher, administrator, fundraiser and government policy adviser. In 1990, she joined the faculty at Tufts University in Medford, where she was a professor in the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, as well as the founding director of the John Hancock Research Center on Physical Activity, Nutrition and Obesity Prevention. During her 15 years directing the research center, Nelson raised more than $43 million, and increased its annual budget from $300,000 to $7.9 million and its staff from two to 55.
Her research led to appointments advising the U.S. government on health, nutrition, fitness and child obesity, and she helped develop federal dietary guidelines under former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Her work has demonstrated that healthy nutrition and exercise significantly reduce the risk of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis and arthritis.
From 2014 to 2016 at Tufts, Nelson was associate dean and chairwoman of the faculty at the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life that “helps to prepare students for a lifetime of engagement in civic and democratic life.” In that role, she founded and led a Committee on Diversity and Inclusion.
Since 2016, Nelson has been the deputy director of the Sustainability Institute at the University of New Hampshire, where she led a campus-wide effort to achieve the highest rating of sustainability for any university or college in the nation.
She describes sustainability as “a collective commitment to human dignity for all people and ecological integrity in all places. It is rooted in an intergenerational, ethical obligation to social justice, collaboration and inclusive prosperity.”
Those are values that Nelson views as central to her approach in leading Hampshire, where she said her top priority will be an”inclusive and resilient community.”
Fundamental to increasing diversity, she said, is “really thinking carefully about our hiring practices, thinking about recruitment, how we make our campus one that is welcoming to all people … a place where people feel valued and respected.”
Kim Saal, of Northampton, vice chairman of the board of trustees and co-chairman of the presidential search committee, said he expects that Nelson will “speak loudly on campus and nationally as a leader for higher education.”
A member of the college’s first class that entered in 1970, Saal said he is confident that Nelson will continue the leadership that has kept Hampshire experimenting “on the cutting edge” since then.
Nelson will follow the seven-year tenure of Lash, who arrived at Hampshire after a long career as an environmental activist. Under his leadership, Hampshire this year became the first residential campus in the country whose electricity is powered entirely by solar energy. Lash also helped increase the diversity of the student body and is known for his collaborative leadership style.
As for Nelson, she believes her “work at Tufts and UNH and my own educational journey has prepared me well” to lead the college in Amherst whose 1,400 students are routinely encouraged to think outside the box. We look forward to her building on that tradition.