President Sarah C. Mangelsdorf begins her “listening and learning tour” with an early morning visit to parts of the River Campus.
Rochester’s new president, Sarah C. Mangelsdorf, promised she would spend considerable time on a “listening and learning tour” during the first part of her time as the University’s chief executive. She jumped right in early Monday morning with a two-hour tour of parts of the River Campus.
Led by Meridian tour guide Jessica Robbins ’20, a psychology and political science major from Brighton, and Bruce Bashwiner, senior associate vice president for facilities, Mangelsdorf had a firsthand look at some of the University’s iconic spaces—Rush Rhees Library, Douglass and Wilson Commons, the Eastman Quadrangle (and its tunnels)—and newer facilities like the Barbara J. Burger iZone, the Humanities Center, and the Hajim Science and Engineering Quad.
Along the way, she introduced herself to some of the staff, faculty, and students who contribute to the University’s success.
“I want to see the campus, I want to meet people, I want to see people where they work,” Mangelsdorf said as she spoke briefly with members of the media on the steps of Wallis Hall. “I don’t want to be closeted away. I want to get to know the University community.”
Most recently the provost at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Mangelsdorf is a highly regarded academic leader who has held teaching, research, and key administrative positions at some of the nation’s leading public and private research universities. She’s earned recognition for her leadership on issues of academic quality, educational access, and diversity and inclusion.
The University’s Board of Trustees named her as Rochester’s 11th president in December, following a nationwide search in a process that included committees comprised of faculty, students, and staff.
She officially became president on Monday.
Even with her successful background in academia, Mangelsdorf admitted that her first day as Rochester’s president prompted the same feelings that everyone has when they the start a new school year at a new school. In a message to the University community, she said that while she has the usual trepidation about starting anew and knows there will be challenges in learning a new institution, she’s also excited and is anticipating a “new year filled with new opportunities and new learning.”
She said that she and her husband, Karl Rosengren, who himself is joining the University as a tenured faculty member in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and in the Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology, joked that Monday felt like the first day of school.
“My husband dropped me off here and afterwards he said, ‘I forgot to take a picture of you!’ And I said, ‘I don’t have my Rocky the Yellowjacket backpack for my first day and my lunchbox.’ But it does feel like the first day of school.”
Mangelsdorf reiterated that she plans to spend time learning from members of the University community and then work with campus to map out specific plans for the future.
“As someone who has been in higher education a long time, I know the reputation of this place,” she said. “And I think I know some of its strengths and some of its challenges, but I’d like to hear that from people for whom this is their home. What are the things that they think are most important? And that will help us figure out the things that we need to work on first.”
She also highlighted the notable role that the Rochester region has played in the nation’s political, artistic, and social history, particularly in the realms of suffrage and in abolition. “Rochester is a famous place in American history,” she said.
Mangelsdorf is planning to take similar tours of other parts of the University in the coming weeks.
University community members are encouraged to contact her at sarah.mangelsdorf@rochester.edu. She also will have an Instagram account as @urochestermangelsdorf.
