Courtesy Skidmore College
Skidmore College recently celebrated the inauguration of Marc C. Conner as the school’s eighth president at the Arthur Zankel Music Center.
A combination of in-person and virtual events were held to mark this time-honored tradition that recognizes the college’s academic mission, proud history and its future.
Conner became the eighth president of Skidmore College in July but his ceremonial installation had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
An innovative leader of interdisciplinary academic programs, a longtime advocate of diversity and inclusion initiatives, and a widely published professor of English, he came to Skidmore following 24 years at Washington and Lee University in Virginia.
In his inaugural address, Conner called for a “daring education” that prepares graduates to lead lives of consequence.
Conner outlined a vision for the college’s future with community at its heart and the liberal arts as a force for innovation and change.
Conner said diversity and inclusion efforts will continue to be woven into the fabric of the institution. He said that supporting the Skidmore community would always be the focus of his work at the college and how he wants to define his presidency.
“A community of trust means a place where everybody feels at home, everybody feels they can thrive, everybody feels safe enough to challenge and be challenged by an education that we know is daring,” Conner said. “I want that phrase, a community of trust, to resonate with us as an aspiration, as a challenge, and as a description. To me, it stands alongside (Skidmore’s motto) ‘Creative Thought Matters’ as twin assertions of what we most value and what defines us at our best.”
Throughout his first 16 months at Skidmore, the president has steered the college through the many challenges wrought by the pandemic, reopening the campus for the 2020-2021 academic year and bringing the entire campus community back for 2021-2022.
Conner has also introduced programs including Skidmore’s Racial Justice Initiative, a series of projects that seek to address the realities of racial injustice locally and beyond, and an inclusive Campus Master Planning process to outline the community’s aspirations for the future.
Conner “successfully navigated the college through an unprecedented global health crisis, as well as a period of historic societal protest and division,” said Nancy Hamilton, chair of Skidmore’s board of trustees, in a press release. “And this period of crisis did not deter him from moving the College forward.”