Jeannine Diddle Uzzi has been appointed the sixth president of Thomas College in Waterville, Maine. She will serve as president-elect until current president Laurie Lachance steps down on November 1.
Thomas College enrolls roughly 1,600 undergraduate students and 100 graduate students. Women represent about 55 percent of the undergraduate student body.
Dr. Uzzi comes to her new role from Adler University in Chicago, Illinois, where she served as vice president of academic affairs. Prior to her most recent role, she spent seven years as provost and executive vice president of academic affairs at the University of Southern Maine. During her tenure with USM, she had terms as chair of the department of modern and classical languages and chair of the faculty senate. Earlier in her career, she served as director of faculty programs for the Associated Colleges of the South and as a faculty member with Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington
As a scholar, Dr. Uzzi focuses her work on Roman political ideology and Latin lyric poetry. She is the author of two books: Children in the Visual Arts of Imperial Rome (Cambridge University Press, 2005) and The Poems of Catullis: An Annotated Translation (Cambridge University Press, 2015).
“We all know this is a tough time for higher education, and my top priority is making Thomas College sustainable by building on its core mission of access to education. By leveraging my experiences, I see opportunities to make Thomas a more inclusive community that serves students from all backgrounds — whether they are from Maine or beyond — who are seeking a place where they truly belong,” said Dr. Uzzi.
Dr. Uzzi holds a bachelor’s degree in classical languages from Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, and a Ph.D. in classical studies from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.