Williams College Names First Woman To Serve As President

It’s a first for Williams College as they have announced that Maud S. Mandel, who is the dean of the college and professor of history and Judaic studies at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island , as its 18th president.

She will succeed the interim president, Protik Majumder who served in that position since Jan. 1. Mandel will begin her new position July 1.

According to iBerkshires.com and Williams College, Mandel is a strong proponent of the liberal arts, President-elect Mandel earned a B.A. from Oberlin College in 1989 and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in history from the University of Michigan in 1993 and 1998, respectively. She came to Brown in 1997 as a visiting assistant professor in modern Jewish history and permanently joined the faculty in 2001 as a professor of history and Judaic studies. She held several leadership positions in the history department and was chair of the Judaic studies program from 2012 to 2014. In 2014, she was named a full professor of history and Judaic studies and simultaneously dean of the college.

Mandel earned a B.A. from Oberlin College in 1989 and completed a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1998.