St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, Names Susan Rundell Singer as Its Next President

Susan Rundell Singer will be the next president of St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. St. Olaf College enrolls just under 3,000 students, all undergraduates. Women make up 58 percent of the student body. When Dr. Rundell Singer takes office in June, she will be the first woman to lead the college in its 149-year history.

“I’ve admired St. Olaf for many years,” Dr. Rundell Singer said. “Grounded with a clear sense of mission and values, St. Olaf provides a holistic, residential liberal arts education that prepares students for successful lives, rich with meaning and purpose. I am thrilled to work with everyone who is part of the St. Olaf community to create together the next chapter of the college’s history.”

Dr. Rundell Singer is currently the vice president for academic affairs and provost at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, where she is also a professor in the department of biology. Before joining Rollins College in 2016, Dr. Rundell Singer served as the director of the Division of Undergraduate Education at the National Science Foundation. Earlier, she was the Laurence McKinley Gould Professor in the biology and cognitive science departments at Carleton College, where she taught for 30 years. She also directed the Perlman Center for Learning and Teaching at Carleton College.

Dr. Rundell Singer earned a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree, and a Ph.D. in biology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York.