Writings & Remarks

March 4-6, 2026, Board Meeting

March 13, 2026

Tags Board Update

Dear Hamilton Community,

The Board of Trustees met in Los Angeles March 4 through 6 for its annual spring meeting. Working together offsite gave the trustees and College leadership fresh perspective to think and strategize together. 

Being in Los Angeles also gave trustees the opportunity to experience the type of intensive collaborative learning our students experience every day. Through mini-labs, based on the Levitt Center Justice Lab model, trustees had an immersive, hands-on experience designed to bridge the gap between academic theory and real-world practice. By partnering with local Los Angeles organizations for an off-site deep dive, these sessions moved beyond the seminar and lecture, allowing trustees to work and learn together, applying liberal arts inquiry to experiential challenges. This is the type of student experience we hope to scale.

Thank you to Aaron Strong and Kwabena Edusei, Frank Anechiarico ’71 and Marianne Janack, Anna Huff and Nathan Goodale, and Lauren Cupp ’07 and Jeff Cross who led mini-labs on the environment, gun violence, technology and storytelling, and sports.

On Friday morning, I presented the Aspirational Design report to the board. Thank you to all who shared feedback on the preliminary report through our survey in February. I presented our roadmap in two parts. First, what is needed to secure our commitments – those things we are already doing that we need to continue to do at an even higher level of excellence and that require additional investment. And second, how we will deliver the future – innovating our open curriculum so we can compete, lead, and differentiate.

Our aspirational design process may have felt at times like “exasperational” design, but we are building a culture of innovation and collaboration at the College. Together, we have landed on something aspirational, ambitious, and inspiring. We will evolve our open curriculum and community of care and kindness into a college known for collaboration and challenge-based learning. We will build upon a set of programs that will more deeply engage alumni and regional partners than ever before. We will take experiential learning to a new level. And we will invest in the student experience so that life on the Hill continues to generate unmatched friendships, experiences, and belonging. Furthermore, we have identified what is necessary to ensure access and to continue recruiting the strongest students. 

The board was enthusiastic about our ideas and direction. They asked that we ensure that our career center and alumni platforms are fully aligned. They asked that we develop clear language and messaging to tell Hamilton’s story moving forward. They asked that we ensure that our faculty have what they need to design and implement the proposed academic innovations. Finally, the board acknowledged that our endowment has to grow significantly for us to remain need blind indefinitely, and they are committed to that.

So what’s next? The board’s feedback will be incorporated into a final aspirational design report that will be presented to this community. Please look for more information about a campus event that will take place in early May.

In the formal meeting, the board approved the 2026-27 budget at $264,539,900, inclusive of financial aid. The comprehensive fee will be set at $95,250 and financial aid is increasing by $4.7 million. Priorities for expense increases this year are to once again allow employee raises of 3% plus a .5% merit pool. 

The trustees also passed a resolution to award honorary degrees to the baccalaureate and commencement speakers in May; The Spectator will announce the names of the speakers after break. 

Finally, the board approved tenure and promotion, effective July 1, to:

• Nadya Bair, Assistant Professor of Art History
• Charlotte Botha, Assistant Professor of Music
• Clark Bowman, Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Statistics
• Anna Huff, Assistant Professor of Digital Arts
• Amy Koenig, Assistant Professor of Classics
• Heather Kropp, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies
• Jack Martinez Arias, Assistant Professor of Hispanic Studies
• Arathi Menon, Assistant Professor of Art History
• Mahala Stewart, Assistant Professor of Sociology
• Michael Welsh, Assistant Professor of Chemistry

Please join me in congratulating these outstanding members of our faculty.

We are all fortunate to be a part of this great institution. We have everything we need to succeed. Talented, thoughtful, and appreciative students; a faculty culture engaged and open to possibility; an amazing and dedicated staff; a new Innovation Center; a supportive board; and strong and collaborative leadership. Let us embrace the momentum as we say, 

Onward for Hamilton.

Steven