Dr. Linda Oubré will become Whittier College’s 15th president, taking office July 1, 2018, college officials announced this week.
Oubré will take the reins from Dr. Sharon D. Herzberger, who will retire on June 30 after serving as president for 13 years. She will be the first person of color to serve as president in Whittier’s 131-year history.
“I am honored to have been selected the next president of Whittier College,” Oubré said. “Whittier’s rigorous liberal arts curriculum and its dedication to student outcomes are some of the factors that I’m looking forward to being a part of. As a Hispanic- and minority-serving institution, the college’s diverse student body, as well as the diversity of its faculty, is truly a model for the nation, and I cannot wait to meet everyone.”
She is also looking forward to meeting and engaging with the college’s “strong alumni body,” she added, “whose passion for this institution is evident.”
Oubré said that the values Whittier holds dear through its Quaker heritage – “social justice, friendship, respect for the individual and the importance of listening” – align with her own values. Moreover, being able to serve as the first president of color brings her honor, as more than 65 percent of Whittier’s students are students of color.
“As a first-generation college student and a woman of color, I have lived the experience of so many of Whittier’s students who have to work hard for a college education,” Oubré said.
Telling the story of her grandparents who never finished elementary school but who went on to become labor and civil rights activists, she said they taught her and her younger siblings and cousins to strive for an education.
