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RFH 2010, Colgate News

Herbst (Not Colgate's!) Named President of UConn

Fri, Dec 24, 2010

Herbst (Not Colgate's!) Named President of UConn

Susan Herbst, sister of Colgate President Jeffrey Herbst, was this week named the first female president of the University of Connecticut.

She had been executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer at the University System of Georgia. she previously served as acting president of the State University of New York at Albany. Herbst will officially begin work at UConn in July.

She will succeed Michael J. Hogan, who left this year to become president of the University of Illinois.

Herbst was praised by Connecticut's current and incoming governors. In a statement from the university, they said:

“Susan is dynamic and energetic and will be an outstanding leader for the university community for years to come,” said Gov. Jodi Rell. “An accomplished scholar, Susan is also down-to-earth and personable. It’s a new day at UConn and she represents the new face of enthusiasm, energy and excellence. She will bring a new vision and she will lead UConn into the top tier of public research universities.”

Gov.-Elect Dannel Malloy said, “I’m very pleased with the choice. UConn is one of Connecticut’s best assets and its president needs to be an effective leader, a strategic thinker, and a skilled communicator. It’s clear that we have found that in Susan."

Herbst has also served as the dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Temple University from 2003 to 2005.

Herbst joined Northwestern University as an assistant professor in 1989 and remained there until 2003. There, she rose to become chair of the political science department and associate dean for faculty affairs.

She received her BA in political science from Duke University in 1984 and her Ph.D. in communication theory and research from the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communications in Los Angeles in 1989.

Herbst was born in New York City and raised in the mid-Hudson Valley town of Peekskill. She and her husband, Doug Hughes, have two children: Daniel Hughes, 16, and Becky Hughes, 15.

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