Jeffrey Herbst, president of Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, has announced that he will step down on June 30, 2015. He has served as president of Colgate University since 2010. The board of trustees has appointed Jill Harsin, a professor of history at Colgate, as interim president of the university, effective July 1. Professor Harsin will lead the university while a national search is conducted to find a permanent president. The goal is to have a new president in place by July 1, 2016. Therefore, Professor Harsin will likely serve one year as interim president.
Professor Harsin joined the faculty at Colgate in 1982 and has served in several leadership posts including chair of the department of history, director of the social sciences division, interim provost, and dean of the faculty. She is the author of several books including Barricades: The War of the Streets in Revolutionary Paris, 1830-1848 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2002) and Policing Prostitution in Nineteenth Century Paris (Princeton University Press, 1985).
Dr. Harsin is a graduate of Missouri State University in Springfield. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa.