Two Women Presidents in Higher Education Announce Their Upcoming Retirements

Kendra Boggess, the first woman president of Concord University in Athens, West Virginia, has announced her plans to retire in August 2025 at the conclusion of the upcoming academic year.

Dr. Boggess joined the Concord University faculty in 1983 as an adjunct professor of business. Over the course of her 41-year tenure with the university, she has served as a tenured professor, chair of the business department, president of the faculty, associate academic dean, and vice president and academic dean of the university. She was appointed interim president in 2013, and assumed the presidency permanently one year later. Her time at the helm of the university has been marked with significant improvements to infrastructure, athletics, academic programming, as well as a substantial increase in grant funding.

Dr. Boggess is a graduate of the University of Florida, where she majored in business education. She holds a master’s degree in vocational technical education and a Ph.D. in business education from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Belle S. Wheelan has announced her plans to retire as president of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges following the conclusion of the the 2024-2025 academic year. She is the first African American and first woman to serve in the role.

Dr. Wheelan’s career in education spans more than four decades. Before transitioning to her present position, she spent three years as Secretary of Education for Virginia. She previously served as president of Northwestern Virginia Community College, as well as Central Virginia Community College, where her appointment in 1992 made her the first African American woman to serve as president of public two- or four-year higher education institution in Virginia. Earlier in her career, she held faculty and administrative roles with Tidewater Community College, Thomas Nelson Community College, and San Antonio College in Texas.

Dr. Wheelan is a graduate of Trinity University in San Antonio, where she double-majored in psychology and sociology. She holds a master’s degree in developmental educational psychology from Louisiana State University and a doctorate in educational administration with a concentration in community college leadership from the University of Texas.