Quillen named president of Davidson College in North Carolina

FROM RICE NEWS STAFF REPORTS

Rice Vice President for International and Interdisciplinary Initiatives Carol Quillen has been named the 18th president of Davidson College. Her appointment at the liberal arts college in Davidson, N.C., is effective Aug. 1.

	CAROL QUILLEN

”Carol has brought great vision and collaborative skills to her leadership role at Rice, greatly enhancing our ability to implement interdisciplinary and international initiatives,” Rice President David Leebron said. ”We are sorry to lose her, but Davidson is a great college, and I know they will benefit tremendously from her vision and skills. It is a fantastic opportunity, and we are proud that the talents of leaders at Rice are recognized widely in higher education.”

“Davidson has made an inspired choice of a new, transformational leader,” Rice Provost George McLendon said. ”I am grateful for Carol’s insights and creative energy that helped me enormously in my first year at Rice. She will be missed, but she leaves a remarkable legacy.”

During her more than two decades of service to Rice, Quillen was the first to hold two top administrative posts. She was the first director of the Boniuk Center for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance when it was established in 2004. She was appointed Rice’s first vice president for international and interdisciplinary initiatives in October 2010.

In her role as vice president, Quillen was responsible for developing Rice’s global outreach, including research partnerships, recruiting strategies, curricular revision and international opportunities for students. She also facilitated implementation of university-wide initiatives, including Rice’s global health efforts and collaborations with institutions in the Texas Medical Center.

Quillen joined the Rice faculty in 1989 as an instructor of history and was promoted to assistant professor a year later and to associate professor in 1996. She taught classes ranging from Early Modern Europe and Gender and Society in Early Modern Europe to Introduction to U.S. Women’s History and Humanist Tradition and Its Critics. She has received Rice’s George R. Brown Award for Superior Teaching three times as well as other teaching awards.

In addition to serving as director of the Boniuk Center from 2004 to 2008, Quillen served as Rice’s vice provost for academic affairs from 2006 to 2010. She helped develop the Chao Center for Asian Studies and the Kinder Institute for Urban Research, co-chaired the president’s Diversity Task Force and instituted mentoring programs for junior faculty.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to serve Davidson, a truly remarkable institution that, I think, has a special role to play now as an exemplar of a liberal arts college,” Quillen said. “And I leave Rice, my home for over two decades, keenly aware of how much I owe this university and how much I have learned from friends and colleagues here. From the time I arrived I have worked with extraordinary people whose wisdom and wit made my job rewarding and fun. To my History Department colleagues, our deans, our vice presidents and especially to David Leebron, Gene Levy, George McLendon and Jim Crownover, all I can say is, Thank you. It has been a privilege.”

Quillen’s daughter, Caitlin, will be a first-year student at the University of North Carolina in the fall.

Davidson is located just north of Charlotte, N.C., and enrolls 1,900 students. Established in 1837 by the Presbyterian Church, the college is regarded as one of the top liberal arts institutions in the country.