Hampshire College President Ed Wingenbach has announced he's resigning to take another position after six years at the helm of the Amherst school.
Wingenbach is leaving to become president of the American College of Greece. He came to Hampshire at a time when the small liberal arts college was in dire financial straits and even considered a possible merger with another school.
Since then, enrollment has grown by 60% and more than $40 million in fundraising has taken place. Wingenbach says now, Hampshire is nearing financial sustainability.
"We're at that point now where Hampshire is at no risk of not being able to continue, we're well beyond that," Wingenbach said. "We've done an amazing amount of innovative work and the future is really exciting."
The outgoing president said, the school budgets as if it had 1,000 students, when it has around 800 right now. It uses some of the funds it has raised to fill in the gap. He said it is projected the school will hit that 1,000 mark in the next few years, which will mean it will be fully sustainable.
The chair of the Hampshire College board, Jose Fuentes praised the work done by Wingenbach.
“In 2019, the board knew we needed a skilled administrator and passionate educator to lead the college through a time of turmoil and rebuilding,” said Fuentes. “In Ed, we found just that.”
While the picture at Hampshire is far brighter than it was in 2019, it still had to lay off about 9% of its staff last year, while also reducing benefits and cutting benefits to others. At that time Wingenbach said that hitting enrollment goals was happening at a slower pace than anticipated.
School officials say a search for Wingenbach's replacement will begin next month. He will depart at the end of June.
Disclosure: Hampshire College is a financial supporter of NEPM. The newsroom operates independently.
