Union College announced Elizabeth Kiss, the former leader of Agnes Scott College and the Rhodes Trust, will become the first woman president in its 230-year history.

Kiss, a New York City native and an Oxford-trained philosopher, will succeed David Harris starting July 1, when she becomes Union College's 20th president, the college announced Monday in a statement. Harris, who became president in 2018, said last year he will step down on June 30.

Kiss, 63, received an undergraduate degree in philosophy from Davidson College and a master’s and doctorate degrees in philosophy from the University of Oxford, which she attended on a Rhodes Scholarship. She served as president of the all-women's Agnes Scott College before heading the Rhodes Trust in Oxford – which administers the Rhodes Scholarship program – from 2018 to 2025. 

“She fully understands the importance of Union’s distinct integration of STEM and liberal arts, and is the ideal leader to build on the significant progress made during President Harris’ tenure,” said Union College Board of Trustees chair Julie Greifer Swidler.

“I love liberal arts colleges because they provide students with a rigorous, immersive and transformative undergraduate experience at a human scale,” Kiss said. “They represent a uniquely American model, and I love that Union has a unique place among these institutions with its long-standing commitment to integrating traditional liberal arts disciplines with engineering.”