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Brandeis University Names New President

Ronald Liebowitz, the former head of Middlebury College in Vermont, will take over as Brandeis' new president in July. (Courtesy Brandeis/Brett Simison)
Ronald Liebowitz, the former head of Middlebury College in Vermont, will take over as Brandeis' new president in July. (Courtesy Brandeis/Brett Simison)

Brandeis University in Waltham has named a new leader.

The school's board of trustees announced Thursday that Ronald Liebowitz, the former head of Middlebury College in Vermont, will take over as Brandeis' new president in July.

Liebowitz will succeed Lisa Lynch, who has served as the school's interim president since July, when former President Frederick Lawrence stepped down.

“We are thrilled to welcome Ron Liebowitz to our community,” Perry Traquina, the chair of Brandeis' board of trustees, said in a statement. “He is a proven visionary and leader who helped a great institution scale even greater heights and deftly managed it through challenging times.”

Liebowitz, 58, was a professor of geography at Middlebury for 31 years before serving as president from 2004 to 2015.

According to the statement from Brandeis, under Liebowitz's leadership Middlebury "made enormous academic, programmatic, reputational and financial gains, including the successful completion of a $500 million capital campaign, which surpassed its goal."

“I am deeply honored to have this opportunity to lead Brandeis,” Liebowitz said in a statement. “The university’s founding, based on the premise of offering an education to those who had been excluded from the finest universities, is inspiring. Its commitment to social justice, as espoused by its namesake, represents a precious compass for an institution of higher education in the 21st century. And its Jewish heritage and roots reflect a learning environment committed not only to critical thinking but to self-criticism as well.”

A native of New York City, Liebowitz earned a Bachelor of Arts from Bucknell University and doctorate from Columbia. He, his wife Jessica, and their three children live in Newton.

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