Farewell David and Sue Finegold
Following a 7-year tenure, Dr. David Finegold stepped down as Chatham’s 19th president in the summer of 2023. He recently spoke to the Recorder about his accomplishments, what Chatham means to him, and some parting thoughts for our readers.
Of all your accomplishments at Chatham, of which are you most proud?
It’s hard to narrow it down to a few! But I might start with the successful transition to all-gender. That was obviously job number one when I started, since it had just started to be implemented. I think the way in which we executed on that has exceeded all our models and expectations. We’ve been able to achieve more than a doubling of the size of the undergraduate population while increasing quality, and we’ve been able to do that in a way that has elevated the status of the university, so we’re now ranked among the top 200 national universities in U.S. News & World Report—and rank number one in Pennsylvania for social mobility. I think that’s a real sign of what we’ve been able to achieve.
I’ve also been involved in helping to transform our approach to athletics under the leadership of Leonard Trevino, our Director of Athletics. That used to be a small part of our class, and our teams were not very competitive. But now across the board we’re doing very well, and our student-athletes are winning all sorts of accolades for their academic performance. That’s been a key part of the successful all-gender transition, because over two-thirds of our out-of-state and international students and our male students are coming through the athletics program.
Finally, I’d say another area I’m incredibly proud of is enhancing our community partnerships. I’ve tried to lead in a way where we really engage with our community partners, because it’s a way for us to enhance the region we live in and create great learning opportunities for our students.
Over the course of your time here, what surprised you about Chatham?
Well, I think one of the most pleasant surprises has been Pittsburgh and the region. Sue and I didn’t know it before we came, but it’s been a wonderful city to live in and make friends in. People are so welcoming, and that same spirit of collaboration pervades the leaders of Pittsburgh’s 11 colleges and universities. They generously share information, ideas and resources and our undergraduates benefit from being able to cross-register for free at any of these partners.
“We’re one of the only places in the country that has all our faculty—our traditional, more research-oriented scholars and also our clinical faculty and professors of practice—now all in the same single tenure system.”
And I’ve spent my whole career in higher ed, but I’ve never been with a faculty and a staff who are so aligned in their dedication to student success. In some of the most prestigious universities, no one gets tenure for being a great teacher. They get assessed on whether they are a world-class researcher, publishing in the top journals, and bringing in big grants. Those things are important, but if you’re a student, particularly an undergrad, it doesn’t necessarily benefit you. I really love the mix at Chatham, where all our full-time faculty are active and engaged scholars, but their first duty is to be great teachers, mentors, and advisors for the students. And increasingly we’re getting those students engaged in the research itself. There’s been a huge explosion in number of students who are publishing with faculty while they are undergrads. That, I think, is a fantastic part of Chatham.
You’re well known for being involved in student life. Can you share a memory of a particularly rewarding time you had with students at Chatham?
There are so many, but I would say one of our sporting successes. The first men’s team we had at Chatham was men’s basketball, and, you know, during their first year, they really struggled. They were brand-new, all first-year students, and a lot of them weren’t any taller than me, and I’m not exactly towering! But by their senior year, they won the conference championship. Being a part of that crowd, and seeing the alums, faculty, staff, and students, who were so excited about what was happening, rush the court and all of that—that was really special.
A Part of Campus Life
In addition to his behind-the-scenes leadership, President Finegold was a well-known and visible presence on campus. Countless members of the Chatham community—including students, faculty, and staff—were afforded the opportunity to engage with him (and with his wife, Sue) one-on-one, through initiatives including Pickleball with the Prez, Fine Arts with the Finegolds, yoga with Sue, and their attendance at athletic events, theater and musical performances, and lectures.
Another thing Sue and I will really treasure is the Fine Arts with the Finegolds. One of the things we heard early on from a lot of the alumni was how impactful the arts course had been on their lives after Chatham. A lot of them said ‘When we were there, we didn’t necessarily really like it! We were forced to go to the opera, and the ballet, and these museums, and write papers about it. It was pretty demanding.’ But when they’ve looked back on their lives, they realized how much that enhanced who they are as people and their overall quality of life. We tried to recreate that in a small way by working with Student Affairs and the faculty to give the opportunity for our students to experience the great cultural richness of Pittsburgh.
What are you most looking forward to in this next chapter of your life?
There are certainly a lot of things that I’ll miss from Chatham, but one of the things that comes with being a university president is that it’s pretty much a 24/7, 365-day job. Even when you’re on holiday, something can happen and suddenly you’re brought back in. So I’m looking forward to having more control over my own schedule and a chance to really focus on projects that are of real interest. I’m also planning to work on a set of things that continue the key missions, like educational access and sustainability, that we focus on at Chatham, but in more entrepreneurial, start-up ways.
Any final thoughts you’d like to leave our alumni with?
Chatham has always stood for creating educational access and equity, and we’ve built on and preserved that strong history through the work of the Women’s Institute, Pennsylvania Center for Women and Politics, and Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship, but we’ve added a whole set of other programming and capabilities with a new Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) and Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. My very first hire was for our CDO position, and we are just finishing the draft of the first University-wide DEI plan. I’m proud of the work going into this, and I hope our alumni will support the plan and our students in these critical elements of our mission, history, and future.
Inspired by our most famous alumna, Rachel Carson ’29, and the students of today, Chatham has expanded our leadership in sustainability and environmental education. That was a huge investment that the University made before I joined. It was also a big part of why I joined, and we’ve really built on that legacy. We are one of the highest ranked schools in the country for sustainability; we’re top ten in undergraduate and graduate degrees in sustainability and food studies; and we’ve grown Eden Hall Campus and the Falk School into a destination for world-class sustainable learning and living. The alums who visit Eden Hall at Reunion are always blown away. I sincerely hope that our alumni continue to support our students and faculty who are helping to address, what I believe is the defining issue of our time, climate change and living more sustainably on our planet.
“I’ve tried to lead in a way where we really engage with our community partners, because it’s not only a way for us to enhance the region we live in but create some of the best learning opportunities for our students.”