Randolph-Macon College President Robert R. Lindgren is very pleased to announce that the college’s 2018 Commencement speaker will be Elizabeth E. Kiss, President of Agnes Scott College. RMC’s Commencement ceremony will be held on Saturday, June 2, on campus at the Frank E. Brown Fountain Plaza.

“We are honored to welcome President Kiss back to Randolph-Macon as our Commencement speaker,” says Lindgren. “She is a celebrated leader and innovative thinker who has for 12 years very successfully led Agnes Scott College. Her enormous accomplishments, including as the Founding Director for Duke University’s Kenan Institute for Ethics, have made a tremendous impact in the fields of political science, philosophy and ethics, and well beyond. Her recent appointment to lead the prestigious Rhodes Scholar program insures that she will remain a powerful influence in higher education worldwide. Having President Kiss as our Commencement speaker is particularly meaningful given that she began her distinguished higher education career here at Randolph-Macon 30 years ago. We are looking forward to having her share her wisdom and expertise with the Class of 2018.”

RMC will also award President Kiss an Honorary Doctor of Humanities degree at the Commencement ceremony.

Elizabeth E. Kiss
Dr. Kiss earned her Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, from Davidson College, and her Bachelor of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from University of Oxford, where she was a Rhodes scholar.

In her 12 years as president of Agnes Scott College, President Kiss (pronounced “quiche”) has been a champion for women’s colleges, boosting enrollment and encouraging students to learn from a global perspective. Agnes Scott, a national liberal arts college for women in Decatur, Georgia, currently enrolls 940 students. The student body is racially, ethnically and socio-economically diverse, with a majority being students of color.

During her tenure at Agnes Scott, President Kiss led the design and launch of SUMMIT, a program in which every student designs an individualized course of study, with co-curricular and international experiences. Under President Kiss’ leadership, Agnes Scott students have garnered Marshall, Truman and Goldwater scholarships, and the college has been named a “Top Fulbright Producer,” with 30 Fulbright Awards given during her tenure. The United States Department of Education also named Agnes Scott “the top national performer” for its success in graduating low-income students.

During President Kiss’ tenure at Agnes Scott, the college completed its largest comprehensive fund-raising campaign in history, raising a total of $115.9 million against a $100 million goal. In 2018, the college was recognized by U.S. News & World Report as “#2 Most Innovative School” among national liberal arts colleges.

Dr. Kiss began her higher education career in 1987 at Randolph-Macon College, where she was a Visiting Professor in the Department of Philosophy. She also taught at Princeton University and Deep Springs College.

In 1996, Dr. Kiss became the Nannerl O. Keohane Founding Director of the Kenan Institute for Ethics and an associate professor of the practice of political science and philosophy at Duke University. In this role, Dr. Kiss helped to build a university-wide initiative that supports the study and teaching of ethics and promotes moral reflection and commitment in personal, professional, community and civic life.

This will be President Kiss’ final year at Agnes Scott College. She was recently named Warden of Rhodes House at University of Oxford, the chief executive role for the prestigious worldwide Rhodes Scholarship Program. Dr. Kiss will be the first female Warden of Rhodes House.

A 2016 recipient of a POW! Award honoring purposeful women from Womenetics, Dr. Kiss received the Dress for Success Champion for Success award in 2015. She also received a Legacy Award from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta in 2013, was inducted into the 2011 YWCA of Greater Atlanta Academy of Women Achievers and was named one of the 2009 Women of Excellence by Business to Business magazine. She received the Davidson College Distinguished Alumni Award for 2008 and was named as one of the Women of Distinction for 2006-2007 by the Girl Scout Council of Northwest Georgia.