Wendy Cadge, a sociologist and national expert in contemporary American religion, has been selected by the Bryn Mawr College Board of Trustees as the College’s 10th president, effective July 1.
Currently the dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Science and Barbara Mandel Professor of the Humanistic Social Sciences at Brandeis University, Cadge has authored three books and more than 100 scholarly articles. At Brandeis, she centered the graduate student experience by expanding student professional development, collaborating to strengthen degree programs, and advancing the graduate school’s anti-racism plan. She built Brandeis’ first Office of Undergraduate Research & Creative Collaboration to expand accessible research opportunities for all undergraduates, led the Division of Social Sciences, and chaired the Brandeis Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Program. She served as a faculty representative to the Board of Trustees and chaired the Faculty Governance Task Force, a three-year initiative to strengthen faculty’s role in shared governance. Cadge also launched the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab in 2018 to advance the work of chaplains in providing innovative spiritual care and support to the public.
Bryn Mawr’s combination of undergraduate liberal arts for women and coeducational graduate programs was a draw for Cadge. “Liberal arts change lives, and their influence does not stop with a bachelor’s degree,” said Cadge. “Bryn Mawr’s remarkable commitment to undergraduate and graduate students, academic excellence, and preparing all of us for lives of purpose is the reason I am coming here.”
“Wendy stood out in a rich field of remarkably talented candidates,” said Board of Trustees Chair Cynthia Archer ’75. “She is a creative and entrepreneurial scholar and a brilliant educator whose work and life beautifully align with Bryn Mawr’s mission. Her clear intellect, innate collegiality, perceptive listening, and compelling energy make her an inspiring choice.”
Cadge succeeds Bryn Mawr’s ninth president, Kim Cassidy, who concludes her second term in June 2024 after serving 11 years as president.
Located near Philadelphia, Pa., Bryn Mawr’s undergraduate college attracts women with a strong commitment to intellectual inquiry, an independent and purposeful vision of their lives, and a desire to meaningfully contribute to the world. Two coed graduate schools, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research, along with a post-baccalaureate premedical program, enrich the College community and offer opportunities for advanced study.
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