Presidential Transition

Dear RFU Faculty, Staff and Students:

For several months I’ve been discussing my retirement timeline with our Board of Trustees and I now wish to share with you that I will retire this calendar year, after more than 44 years at our wonderful university. The board has been very gracious in receiving this news and has asked me to stay through the duration of a presidential national search. This means that I will remain president until late in the calendar year, and in the interim, my attention will continue to be focused on our strategic priorities, namely institutional sustainability. I want to make sure that I leave the university in a good place so the next president can lead you into the future.

The search process will begin soon and more information will be shared in the coming weeks by Dr. Lee Sacks, secretary of the Board of Trustees. Dr. Sacks will chair the process with the support of Spencer Stuart, an executive search firm who has worked extensively with RFU in recent years.

I consider Rosalind Franklin University to be a very special place and it’s because of you– the way you model our core values, stay focused on our mission, and the manner in which you have supported one another in the past and continue to do so now. I will greatly miss the culture we have built together, and I will miss all of you. In 1981, I arrived as an assistant professor in the relatively new Department of Physical Therapy. Fast forward to today and I will depart as the first woman president of the first health sciences institution named for a woman scientist. It’s been my honor to serve as your president, to educate our students and to work with you for all these years.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” -Margaret Mead

Very Sincerely,

Dr. Wendy Rheault
President and CEO