Sweet Briar president to retire

By Christa Desrets

Published: April 29, 2008

Sweet Briar College’s ninth president, Elisabeth “Betsy” Showalter Muhlenfeld, will retire in June 2009 after 13 years at the school’s helm and at the national forefront of the fight for women’s education.

Muhlenfeld, who will turn 64 in the fall, announced her decision to the college’s board of directors Saturday, and to the school community Monday.

She hopes to keep serving higher education through options such as writing, teaching or consulting, Muhlenfeld said in a phone interview Monday.

- Founded: 1901 by Indiana Fletcher Williams in memory of her only daughter, Daisy. Opened in 1906.
- Type of School: Private women’s college for liberal arts and sciences
- Enrollment: 660
- Annual Tuition: $24,740
- Academic Programs: More than 40 major, minor and certificate programs
- Athletics: The Vixens are in the NCAA Division III and compete in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference.

“I’d like to continue to be of use to Sweet Briar in however they might be interested in having me help,” she said. “And I do hope to play with my grandchildren more.”

Muhlenfeld said the school is in good shape to attract a top-notch leader, and likely will announce its formal presidential search in a few weeks.

Dean of Admissions Ken Huus said Muhlenfeld’s greatest legacy would be to women’s colleges.

He recalled five years ago when the school faced the decision of whether to adopt coeducation, and ultimately decided to remain a women’s college.

“She is such an advocate for women’s education and women’s colleges in general,” Huus said. “Not just in our community but nationally, especially in the last three to five years. She has articulated our vision over and over again, and that’s really gotten, in my opinion, people on board.”

As chair of the Women’s College Coalition, an association of that promotes women’s education, Muhlenfeld’s commitment to single-sex colleges has become more pronounced, said Hollins University President Nancy Gray.

“I just think the world of Betsy,” said Gray, who has worked with Muhlenfeld for nine years. “She’s done a wonderful job in leading Sweet Briar.”

Muhlenfeld also has worked with organizations such as the Southern Association of Schools, and is “quick to lend a patient ear or a helping hand to her colleagues,” Gray said.

At Sweet Briar, that has resulted in a number of changes since Muhlenfeld began in 1996, said Dean Jonathan Green.

“We’ve got our first graduate programs since she’s been here, engineering and business programs have started, we have a number of new buildings,” he said. “All that happened under her watch. It’s been quite a good ride and, certainly, over the last five years we’ve increased the incoming classes.”

With a population of 660 students, this year the school had its largest enrollment in at least 25 years, he said.

Since 1996, the school has become one of only two women’s colleges in the country to offer engineering degrees and also has added programs in film studies, environmental science, archaeology and leadership.

As a school that traditionally attracts women who take leadership roles, Muhlenfeld said, that has been a focus.

Senior Kristen Barnes is one of Sweet Briar’s student leaders as the president of the school’s Student Government Association.

In that role, she has met with Muhlenfeld for monthly briefings.

“She has given me wonderful advice when I needed it,” Barnes said. “She has been amazingly supportive of us throughout our time here.”

Senior Natalie Batman also has worked with Muhlenfeld for four years in the President’s Office.

“It seems like the college now really is in a much stronger place than it has been,” Batman said. “She’s a fantastic leader; I feel like I’ve gained a lot watching her lead our school.”

The campus has grown in Muhlenfeld’s 12 years, with the opening of a hotel and conference center and a student commons area, plus the transformation of many historical buildings.

Muhlenfeld said that learning about the sometimes controversial history of the college, that once was a plantation complete with slaves, is another recent addition to academics.

“We are located on what was a working plantation … an archaelogical treasure trove,” she said. “We’re able to use all of these elements in the curriculum to help students understand where we came from, and how all the different strata of society contribute to that society.”

On Friday, college officials broke ground for a new 53,000-square-foot Fitness and Athletics Center, proof of the school weathering financial uncertainty in the early part of the decade, Muhlenfeld said.

In 2006, the school completed a $111 million capital campaign, she said, and this year has a roughly $100 million endowment.

Huus said that puts the college in a strategic position moving forward, even if that’s without Muhlenfeld at the helm.

“We’re poised for even better things in the next several (years),” he said.