Davidson Names First Female President

I just got word that Davidson College, the little school just up the road that is most famous for being my alma mater (kidding), just named its 18th president. Carol Quillen, who will also be the first college’s president in more than 50 years who did not graduate from Davidson, comes from Rice University, where she is the vice president for international and interdisciplinary initiatives. She starts August 1. Clearly, one of the main reasons she applied for the new gig is that she wanted a simpler title. What a cocktail-party burden that beast must be in Houston.

Anyway, Davidson has posted on its website several video clips of interviews with Quillen. Included is one titled "On Charlotte" in which she says this: "I would think a little bit about Charlotte and the ways in which Davidson might interact more with the city … Davidson could develop an innovative set of programs that engaged Charlotte."

I count that as good news. I’ve often thought that Davidson should be way more involved with Charlotte than it is. I’ve heard there are as many as 1500 or more Davidson alums living here already. When I was in school there in the early 1990s, I rarely if ever came to Charlotte. There was little reason to. But there are lots more reason to now, from nightlife to cultural offerings, and as the city has spread outward, its reaches now touch Davidson. It makes perfect sense for the college to become more integrated into life here. I hope it happens.