Dr. Joanne Berger-Sweeney is president of Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.
“I actually had to wrestle with myself about my ambitions,” Berger-Sweeney recalls. “But once I decided to join the program, I was actually articulating to myself that I had an ambition to be a college or university president.”
The neuroscientist set her sights on achieving that goal within 18 months. It did not take that long. A year after starting the program, Berger-Sweeney was appointed to lead Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, where she has been president since last July.
“I am the first woman president and the first president of color. They got a ‘twofer,’” Berger-Sweeney says with a laugh.
Tangible growth
For nearly three decades, the number of women who serve as college presidents or chancellors has grown slowly, from 10 percent in 1986 to 26 percent in 2011, according to the American Council on Education (ACE). Its latest American College President Study estimates 13 percent were of color in 2011 and 4 percent were women of color.
In 2013, ACE launched the Spectrum Executive Leadership Program to increase the number of women and people of color in presidencies. Berger-Sweeney joined the first of three cohorts to go through the mentoring and skill-building program, which lasted six to eight months.
