After 17 years of service, Nancy Y. Bekavac announced that she will step down as president of Scripps College, effective June 30, 2007.
Los Angeles attorney Roxanne Wilson, chair of the Scripps College Board of Trustees, said: “It is with great sadness and heartfelt appreciation that the Scripps College Board of Trustees accepts President Bekavac’s resignation. Through her fierce determination and extraordinary leadership, Scripps has achieved enormous success, bringing the college to an entirely new level of excellence. The Board will move quickly to appoint an interim president and to assure a smooth transition in the leadership of the college.”
When Nancy Bekavac was appointed Scripps’ president in 1990, she was the sixth president in the college’s history and its first woman president. In fact, she was the first woman to be president of one of the five Claremont Colleges; now there are four women presidents.
During her tenure, the college completed two successful strategic plans and two capital campaigns, the last one raising $101 million, surpassing the $85-million goal by $16 million.
Fund-raising success allowed Scripps to expand its student body, hire new faculty, add scholarship support, build essential new facilities, and substantially increase its endowment. The college also rose in national prominence: in 2006, Newsweek named Scripps one of the “25 hottest colleges in the nation,” and U.S. News and World Report listed the college among the top tier of national liberal arts colleges. In addition, alumnae participation in giving was among the highest in the nation, at 59.7%.
“I am and will always be profoundly grateful to have had the opportunity to see this small college grow into the remarkable, dynamic institution it is today and play a part in its development,” said Bekavac. “I leave with full confidence in the direction of the College and, above all, in the Scripps women of today and of the future.”