Gavel passed, Janet Whitman is Skidmore's new Board chair

Janet Lucas Whitman '59 is now chair of the Skidmore College Board. She was handed the gavel by Suzanne Corbet Thomas '62 early this afternoon at the conclusion of the Board's October meeting in a second-floor meeting room in Murray-Aikins Dining Hall.

First, however, she read a resolution acknowledging with "deep admiration and respect" Thomas's service to the College.

The resolution praised Thomas as a "consummate leader, benefactor, and ambassador" on behalf of the College, and cited the College's many advances during her tenure. These include the welcoming of Philip A. Glotzbach as Skidmore's seventh president, the launching of the $200 million Creative Thought Bold Promise campaign, the conception of the Arthur Zankel Music Center as the College's "gateway" building," and the construction of the Northwoods Village apartments -- "all while the College continued its upward trajectory in academic excellence and national reputation."

Thomas was elected secretary of her class in her senior year and served as a student representative to the Skidmore Alumni Board, "experiences that set the course for a lifetime of service to the College," the resolution said. Her many Skidmore roles have included that of Chair of the Friends of the Presidents Committee, Chair of the National Leadership Gifts Committee for the Journey Campaign, member of the Tang Advisory Committee, member of the Presidential Search Committee, and numerous volunteer roles on behalf of the Class of 1962. Skidmore honored her with an Outstanding Service Award in 2002.

Her "commitment, guidance, clarity of thought, and diplomacy as a volunteer and leader have served Skidmore well and have helped bring the College to new heights," the resolution continued.

A former mayor of Summit, N.J., and a distinguished community activist and volunteer, Whitman has been a member of the Skidmore College Board since 1994. She has served as the chair, vice-chair, and member of numerous Board committees, assisting the college on such issues as infrastructure, budget and finance, compensation, special programs, trusteeship, strategic planning, academic affairs, advancement, and the search committee that brought Philip Glotzbach to the Skidmore presidency in 2003. As an alumna, she has served in numerous roles as a volunteer including Class Fund chair, reunion volunteer, and as a member of the national leadership gifts committee.

"I'm truly delighted that Janet Whitman is the College's new board chair," said Thomas. "The range of her experience in management and the arts, her passionate commitment to Skidmore and her innate good sense are wonderful assets that will serve Skidmore well. I know she will provide outstanding leadership at a time of tremendous promise for the College."

President of her freshman class at Skidmore, Whitman withdrew before graduation but later completed her degree in Management and Business in 1982, through Skidmore's University Without Walls program. The Whitmans are the parents of three children?sons Stephen and David, and daughter, Sally, who earned a degree in art history at Skidmore in 1987. They have six grandchildren.