Whittier Welcomes Interim President Dillon For Another Year!
Co-writer: Emily Henderson
On Oct. 20, Chair of Board of Trustees Ron Gastelum ’68, announced through an email sent to students and faculty that Interim President Dillon will be extending her presidency through June 2025.
Dillon started her Presidency at Whittier on July 1, 2023, following the resignation of former President Linda Oubré. Since then, Dillon has “worked tirelessly to ensure the stability of our institution by introducing a Short-Range Strategic Plan to fortify [Whittier College’s] fiscal position by focusing on enrollment and fundraising,” according to Gastelum’s email. With the amount of effort Dillon has put into the College, the Board of Trustees voted to ask Dillon to extend her presidential term for an additional year, extending beyond the initial agreed term end-date. Dillon accepted the request.
As stated in the Short-Range Strategic Plan, Dillon has focused her work on ensuring the College’s financial sustainability. This plan was approved by the Board in mid-August, and further underlines two key focus areas that will support the main priority of financial sustainability: enrollment and fundraising.
With enrollment, the College is committed to restoring its enrollment numbers to meet the same demand as previous years, pre-pandemic. The College plans to meet these roughly estimated numbers within the next three to four years. To better support this goal, the Board has allocated $2.2 million to focus on suitable staffing, and develop tactical tools designed to boost enrollment for the upcoming Fall 2024 semester and following years. It also stated that this enrollment focus will manage and observe progress made toward this goal.
Next, the College has dedicated efforts to achieve fundraising goals that will ensure long-term financial security and sustainability as per the Interim President’s Short-Range Strategic Plan. The College plans to launch a targeted fundraising campaign to acquire a goal of $12.5 million and be put towards the Whittier Fund. This goal of $12.5 million will be larger than the typical fundraising, giving level that the College has seen over the last five years. Furthermore, the College is also initiating a leadership challenge to raise an additional $1 million by 2024. To support these goals, the College will be recruiting new, experienced staff, who will aid the College in outreach efforts to alumni, and increase alumni involvement in fundraising initiatives.
Lastly, as emphasized in the Short-Range Strategic Plan, “Success over the next few months will depend, in part, on the Board of Trustees.” However, besides efforts made by the Board, this new extension for the Interim President will allow more time to prepare for the search for the College’s new President. Dillon shares her satisfaction with her decision and the Board’s request: “I am pleased to be able to continue my work guiding the College to achieve the Short-Range Strategic Plan objectives that I proposed, and the Board approved in August. We are making great progress in increasing our enrollment and fundraising to strengthen Whittier College. Since the Plan requires the next few years to complete, it will be helpful to have continuity into 2025 in making sure we are on track.”
For now, students and staff will continue to see Dillon on campus until June 2025, ensuring the plan is in full effect throughout the upcoming years.
Photo Courtesy of Emily Henderson / Quaker Campus
