College of Wooster President Sarah Bolton leaving after school year ends

WOOSTER – Sarah Bolton, president of the College of Wooster since 2016, is leaving Ohio for another job.

Bolton has been named the next president of Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, the school announced Tuesday on its website.

She will assume her new role on July 18 and will remain at Wooster through the current academic year.

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Bolton became the first woman to serve in the permanent role as school president.

"During her tenure at Wooster, Bolton has championed significant transformations of the campus community and overall student experience by catalyzing investments in virtually every area of the college and building strategic connections across disciplines, individuals, teams, cultures, and differences to support the thriving of every student," according to Tuesday's announcement.

Part of that transformation effort was the “Connect, Create, Discover” strategic plan, developed by Bolton in collaboration with the Wooster community. It was aimed at sustaining enrollment and fundraising during "the most significant pandemics to hit campus in its more than 150-year history."

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Notices of the change also were sent to students, parents and alumni.

“Serving as Wooster’s president has been a tremendous joy and privilege. I will always deeply admire this extraordinary community — its people, its values, its leadership in teaching and learning, and its vision for the future,” Bolton wrote in the announcement. “I am profoundly grateful for all the ways that Wooster’s students, staff, faculty, board and alumni have come together to make our college an even brighter beacon for learning over the past five and a half years”

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“The challenges and opportunities at Whitman appealed to me in part because of the deeply held values that Whitman and Wooster share,” added Bolton. “Like Wooster, Whitman’s community is brilliant, kind, and determined to make a positive impact in the world through teaching, learning and action.”

Sally Staley, chair of the college's board of trustees, praised Bolton's tenure in an accompanying message from the school.

"By the end of the academic year, Sarah will have led the College through six highly successful years, the last three of which have been touched by the unimaginably difficult management complications wrought by COVID-19.

Through the emergency requirements of a pandemic layered onto the ongoing management of academic programs, faculty, staff and the entire campus community, Sarah has steadily led our College with wisdom and inspiration, science and compassion, and an abundance of good humor," she wrote.

The college said it will begin work immediately to find a replacement. In the meantime, school leaders will look to identify an interim president, Staley wrote.

"President Sarah Bolton’s achievements on behalf of Wooster have been outstanding and extraordinary. Please join me and the entire Board in thanking her for her many lasting contributions to our College and in wishing her continuing success in her new venture."

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Sarah Bolton leaving College of Wooster for Whitman College in Wash.