Earlham College president to retire

By Tana Weingartner

The 20th president of Earlham College has announced she'll retire at the end of the current academic year. President Anne Houtman is the first woman to lead the Quaker institution in Richmond, Ind.

"I feel very proud of all that we have accomplished at Earlham, and am confident that Earlham is in a better place now than when I arrived," Houtman states in a release. "I am certain that Earlham will be able to bring in a very strong 21st president in large measure because of all the hard work we have accomplished together over these years."

Houtman plans to step down at the end of the 2023-24 school year. The search for her successor will begin in the coming weeks, the college says.

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"We are grateful that Anne will leave the College in a better place than she found it, with a solid and clearly articulated plan to move the College forward," said Tom Thornburg, chair of the Earlham Board of Trustees. "We know she, her leadership team, and the Earlham community of faculty, staff, students, and alumni will work hard toward the goals Anne has set out for Earlham in her remaining nine months at Earlham."

Houtman took the reins July 1, 2019. She came to Earlham from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind., where she was provost and vice president for academic affairs. Prior to that, she served as dean of the School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering at California State University Bakersfield, and as head and professor at the Thomas H. Gosnell School of Life Sciences at Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, N.Y.

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During her tenure at Earlham, Houtman was credited with launching a fundraising initiative that has raised nearly $85 million for strategic priorities. Earlham also added new scholarships, the Epic Journey program, and a handful of new majors, including accounting and engineering, data science, and social services, among others. The college also added a softball program and is building a stadium.

According to a release, Houtman plans to remain in the Richmond area after retiring and "resume scholarly projects she put on hold" when she became president.

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