Union College’s vision statement, which calls for “developing every student to lead with wisdom, empathy and courage,” is a source of inspiration for Elizabeth Kiss, who on July 1 will become the first female president in the school’s 230-year history.
“Those are more than just words,” says Kiss. “They are something the college has brought alive, and that I want to continue to bring alive in students’ experiences, so that as they go on in life and career, they ask themselves, ‘Am I leading with wisdom, empathy, and courage?’”
Kiss’ background is in philosophy. To her, such questions are more than theoretical abstractions—they’re practical considerations that help people understand how to live lives that are ethically and morally sound. At a small liberal arts college like Union, she says, “you are changing lives every day.”
Located in Schenectady, Union College has just over 2,000 undergraduate students. Kiss says she is eager to lead a college where the sciences, humanities, social sciences, computer science, and engineering are all emphasized. “So much of the most important educational work is at the intersection of those fields,” she says. “Union is exciting to me as a place that is doing that work. For me, the opportunity is: How can you do more of it?”
Kiss’ perspective on leadership and education was shaped by her experiences at the University of Oxford in England, which she attended on a Rhodes Scholarship; at Duke University, where she founded the Kenan Institute for Ethics; and at Agnes Scott College in Georgia, where she served as president. She comes to Union fresh off a stint as CEO of the Rhodes Trust, where she raised a record amount of money to increase the number of scholarships for students from around the world—especially Africa, India, and China. But it’s her family history that has most influenced her worldview.
Kiss is the child of Hungarian refugees who moved to the United States in 1956 following the Hungarian Revolution. Her father was imprisoned twice, first under the Nazis and later the Communist government.
“He had this experience of standing up for the core values of democracy and decency and paying the price,” says Kiss, who was born in New York City. “In ways large and small, I want to be able to say that I’ve tried to do the right thing—that I’ve tried to make the organizations I serve better and more inclusive.”
