Hobart and William Smith Colleges

October 30, 2024

Dear Members of the HWS Community,

Earlier today, Foxcroft School in Middleburg, Va., announced that Lisa Kaenzig, HWS' Dean of Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Innovation and Director of the Centennial Center, has been named Foxcroft's next Head of School. This is an outstanding opportunity for Dean Kaenzig, one that matches her skills and leadership experience. She will be dearly missed by her colleagues and students, and by the many alumnae she has mentored for more than 20 years.

The position at Foxcroft begins in the summer of 2025, allowing Dean Kaenzig to remain at the helm of the Centennial Center for the remainder of the academic year and ensuring that projects and initiatives now underway continue unabated. This year will give Provost and Dean of Faculty Sarah Kirk the opportunity to consider the best organization for the Center going forward.

Dean Kaenzig has more than 30 years of administrative and academic experience, including several years working in politics in Washington, D.C. and more than two decades serving as a dean at HWS. On the national stage, she is the past Chair of the PLEN Board of Directors. On campus, she founded the HWS First Generation Initiative in 2006, has worked with the Centennial Center on several initiatives, and advised Hai Timiai, the William Smith senior honor society. A frequently invited speaker on issues relating to talent development and introverted learners, Dean Kaenzig’s research on the topic is cited as one of the most influential references in the field.

Accompanying Dean Kaenzig to Virginia will be her partner, Associate Professor of Chemistry Christine de Denus, who came to HWS in 1999 and who has mentored generations of students in her classroom and research lab. An organometallic chemist, Professor de Denus is Chair of the Chemistry Department and Co-Chair of Biochemistry. She previously served HWS as Associate Dean of Faculty and Associate Provost. On campus, de Denus has devoted herself to building a diverse campus community, serving as the Director of the First-Generation Initiative since 2016 as well as a mentor to the Posse 8 cohort from Los Angeles. In 2023, the faculty honored her with the Faculty Award for Diversity and Inclusion, and the year before with the Faculty Award for Service.

Although it is difficult to imagine our community without Dean Kaenzig and Professor de Denus, we have the rest of the academic year to thank them for their commitment to HWS, celebrate their many successes, and wish them well at Foxcroft.

Sincerely,

Mark D. Gearan
President