Elizabeth Howe Bradley Named the Eleventh President of Vassar College

The board of trustees of Vassar College, the highly rated liberal arts educational institution in Poughkeepsie, New York, has appointed Elizabeth Howe Bradley as its eleventh president. Dr. Bradley currently serves as the Bradley-Johnson Professor of Grand Strategy at Yale University. She will become president of Vassar College on July 1.

Vassar College was one of the original Seven Sisters colleges. After considering a merger with Yale University in the late 1960s, Vassar decided to remain independent and transition to co-educational status. Today, the college enrolls about 2,400 undergraduate students. Women make up 56 percent of the student body.

In accepting the appointment, Dr. Bradley said “I am thrilled to have been elected the eleventh president of Vassar College. This is a critical time for leadership in liberal arts education, with many complex issues facing our campuses, our nation, and our world. With its strong intellectual foundation and its legacy of making a difference through action, Vassar serves as a model of high-quality, accessible, and innovative higher education. Working with students here in the U.S. and globally, I have seen how access to higher education changes lives, and it makes me even more committed to making certain we maintain Vassar as a diverse and inclusive community. I look forward to being part of the continued progress of this remarkable institution.”

At Yale, Dr. Bradley has served as head of the residential Branford College. She is the founder and faculty director of the Yale Global Health Leadership Institute that provides leadership and management education that empowers low-income communities and countries to improve health outcomes. The institute has operations in China, the United Kingdom, Ethiopia, Ghana, Liberia, Rwanda, and South Africa and has made a major effort to transform the health care system in Ethiopia.

Dr. Bradley grew up in Connecticut and graduated from Harvard University in 1984 with degrees in art history and economics. She holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in health policy and health economics from Yale University. She is the author of more than 300 peer-reviewed articles and the co-author of The American Health Care Paradox: Why Spending More Is Getting Us Less (Public Affairs, 2013).

Below is a video of Dr. Bradley discussing her appointment and career.