Hamilton College inaugurated its 21st president on Saturday. Steven Tepper began leading the private college in Clinton, New York in July. Tepper, who previously served as a dean at Arizona State University, succeeded retiring Hamilton president David Wippman. At a time when liberal arts colleges, both public and private, are under financial strain, Tepper, recognized as a national leader in cultural policy, says such an education remains vital.
"Hamilton was the first college in America to welcome a foreign student from China," Tepper said. "Zeng Laishun, evidence that we have always, long believed that students from diverse backgrounds will enrich the intellectual environment of this community."
During his inauguration speech, Tepper added that education is key to a successful democracy.
"I think we can build on our common ground initiative, our Levitt Center, our Justice Lab, our D.C. program. We can audition, we can test, we can critique, we can examine," Tepper said in his inauguration speech on Saturday. "We can advance the most innovative ideas around the future of our democracy. Our democracy needs Hamilton College right now. We can and we must lead with our history and our distinctive liberal arts approach."
