Yale scientist is new president of Wellesley College

H. Kim Bottomly, Ph.D., former deputy provost for science, technology and faculty development at Yale and professor of immunobiology and molecular, cellular and developmental biology, was named president of Wellesley College in May.

Bottomly is a widely published researcher on immune responses to allergens. She has served as a member of the Immunobiology Study Section at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), was appointed to the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and received the prestigious MERIT award from the NIH.

Bottomly was instrumental in spearheading Yale’s faculty diversity initiative, a plan to add 30 new women and 30 minority faculty members over the next seven years. Bottomly’s deputy provost position, which combined two roles to meet her personal interests—faculty development and science—has not yet been filled.

Bottomly’s departure adds to a growing roster of women who have moved on from Yale’s Provost’s Office to head other prestigious institutions. Former Provost Judith Rodin, Ph.D., left Yale in 1994 to become president of the University of Pennsylvania; Alison Richard, Ph.D., became head of the University of Cambridge in 2003; the following year, Susan Hockfield, Ph.D., was named the 16th president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.