Union College Hires Its First Female President

Union College (NY) has hired its first female president in its 230-year history. Elizabeth Kiss (pronounced “quiche”) is an Oxford-trained philosopher and the former college president of Agnes Scott College, an all-women’s liberal arts college in Atlanta. From 2018 to January 2025, she was the CEO of the Rhodes Trust, a higher education charity in Oxford, U.K. When she announced last year that she was stepping down from her role as CEO, she said she would spend the first six months of 2025 on sabbatical to “focus on a writing project on leadership and ethics.” She said Monday her efforts to complete her tome were delayed, what with applying for the Union College job and also teaching a seminar on ethics. But she plans to “accelerate” her work on the book next month, with hopes of making solid progress before she starts her Union College job July 1.