This page is no longer being updated and remains online for informational and historical purposes only. The information is accurate as of the last page update.
For questions about page contents, contact the Communications Division.
Rebecca S. Chopp, president of Colgate University, will deliver the baccalaureate address at Lafayette at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, May 24. At the College’s 168th Commencement exercises, to be held at 2:30 p.m. that afternoon, she will be awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity.
Vartan Gregorian, president of Carnegie Corporation of New York and former president of Brown University and New York Public Library, will deliver the commencement address and will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws.
Due to inclement weather, both the baccalaureate and commencement ceremonies will be held in Allan P. Kirby Field House.
Chopp became Colgate’s 15th president July 1, 2002, and was inaugurated September 29. She had been dean of Yale University Divinity School.
Prior to joining Yale Divinity School, Chopp spent 15 years at Emory University, where she held the positions of provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. She established herself as a well-known scholar of religion and American culture. Chopp also served as director of graduate studies for the Institute of Women’s Studies, dean of faculty and academic affairs at the Candler School, and Charles Howard Candler Professor of Theology.
At Emory Chopp oversaw two colleges of liberal arts and seven professional schools and led strategic planning in areas such as teaching and research, international affairs, university/community relations, and information technology. More than 20 vice presidents, deans and vice provosts reported to Chopp, who established three priorities for their work together: strengthening the schools and establishing cross-disciplinary programs, identifying new intellectual initiatives, and identifying and supporting colleagues with leadership potential.
Chopp received her bachelor’s degree from Kansas Wesleyan University, her master of divinity degree from St. Paul School of Theology, and doctorate from the University of Chicago Divinity School. In recent years her research has focused on changing structures and cultures of higher education, on the role of liberal arts in democratic society, and on supporting faculty in teaching and research. Chopp has written numerous books and articles in the areas of women’s studies, Christian theology, and the role of religion in American public life.
Chopp has been editor of The Quarterly Review, Religious Studies Review, and The Christian Century, and has been a member of the editorial boards of six other journals of religious and theological studies. She was president of the American Academy of Religion and chair of Women in Leadership in Theological Education of the Association of Theological Schools. Among her many memberships in community and professional groups and associations, she is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Foundation and has served on the Council of Information and Library Resources.
Chopp is married to Frederick H. Thibodeau. They have three sons.