EDITOR’S NOTE: University of Delaware Board of Trustees Chair Terri Kelly sent a related announcement to the UD community on Dec. 9.

The University of Delaware Board of Trustees has unanimously voted to appoint Laura A. Carlson — a distinguished educator, researcher and administrator with more than 30 years of experience in higher education — as the institution’s 29th president, effective Jan. 1, 2026.

The Board made the announcement at its semiannual meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 9, following an extensive and robust University-wide initiative throughout the fall semester involving multiple stakeholders to consider the qualities and qualifications needed by UD’s next president, as well as comprehensive assessments of Carlson’s abilities and the landscape of executive leadership in higher education.

Chair Terri Kelly said the feedback and perspective of the UD community showed that Carlson would be an ideal choice as the University’s next president.    

“Since joining UD in 2022, Dr. Carlson has demonstrated a deep commitment to the advancement of our University and a clear passion for the success and wellbeing of our students, faculty, staff and alumni,” said Terri Kelly, chair of the Board of Trustees. “Dr. Carlson is an outstanding leader, and a role model for the values and beliefs we want to reinforce. We are thrilled that she will be guiding the University of Delaware into our next phase of growth and impact on the world.”

Carlson joined UD as provost after more than 25 years at the University of Notre Dame. The Board of Trustees appointed her as interim president in July after former President Dennis Assanis stepped down from UD.

“It has been such a privilege and joy to have served as interim president these past six months. This role is a lifestyle, not a job, and I am truly honored to now serve as president so that we can continue what we have started together. I am so grateful for the support, confidence and engagement I have received from the Board of Trustees, the campus community, and Blue Hens everywhere,” Carlson said.

“I have fallen in love with UD, and I am deeply committed to its purpose and people.  Together we can make the University of Delaware a place where we inquire with impact, create with connections, innovate with intention, grow with purpose, welcome with promise, educate with outcomes, work with trust, and belong with joy. I so look forward to our work together to put this vision into action.”

Katherine Slough, president of the Student Government Association and a member of PAAC, expressed enthusiasm for Carlson’s appointment.

“It has been my privilege to work alongside Dr. Carlson and to witness her transformative impact on our community,” Slough said. “I am confident in her ability to lead our campus in the right direction. Dr. Carlson is incredibly talented and driven, with a genuine love for the UD community. Her humility is admirable, and I was thrilled to serve on the committee that recommended her as the next president.”

Since July, Carlson has engaged in a broad effort to meet with students, faculty, staff and community leaders throughout the state. Her “Becoming OneUD” initiative gathered input from hundreds of people through town halls and online submissions; Carlson created a Staff Council in response to suggestions during the staff town hall.

After the Board’s announcement, Carlson presented her vision of the University and outlined a plan to turn the community’s aspirations into action. That work will begin in the new year.

“Mark your calendars,” Carlson said. “We have work to do together.” 

About the presidential review process

In September, Kelly announced that the Board of Trustees had begun the process of selecting UD’s next president. The Board created the Presidential Appointment Advisory Committee (PAAC) and engaged WittKieffer, a globally recognized firm that specializes in presidential transitions for colleges and universities, to facilitate the process and support the Board in assessing whether to appoint Carlson as president or launch a national search.

Multiple listening sessions and an online survey gathered feedback on the most important qualities and experiences needed by the University’s next president. That effort resulted in this high-level distillation of the community's aspirations for the next president. WittKieffer also developed an extensive market and peer analysis to provide context on current presidential searches. WittKiefer also conducted an independent evaluation of Carlson’s abilities.

“The process of vetting Interim President Carlson for the Presidency was robust and thorough,” said Anu Sivaraman, associate professor of business administration and member of the PAAC. “Our committee met extensively over several months, working with the search firm to review campus feedback and conducting a comprehensive interview with the candidate. Based on this rigorous and transparent process, I fully support Dr. Carlson’s appointment. The committee’s diligent work gives me full confidence that we have selected the right leader to guide our University into the future.” 

Earlier this month, the PAAC reviewed a comprehensive report by WittKieffer, which also included Carlson’s own reflections on the position. The PAAC unanimously recommended to the Board’s Executive Committee that Carlson should be appointed president. The Executive Committee considered all the information and input and made an official recommendation to the full Board of Trustees.

More about Laura A. Carlson

As the University of Delaware’s provost, Carlson focused on enhancing access, enrollment, programming and academic excellence. She spearheaded the adoption of a multi-year strategy that integrates financial, enrollment and hiring plans. Leading cross-disciplinary teams, Carlson helped expand pathways to a UD degree and, in partnership with the colleges, has expanded offerings in winter and summer sessions to create flexibility for students and help them to more easily reach graduation. She has also been a champion of cultivating ideas from faculty and staff, and the provost team has created dynamic tools to help turn those ideas into reality, such as the One Idea, One Slide Summit and the New Program Incubator. Such efforts to advance academic excellence have also been reinforced by her support for improved use and quality of academic spaces across the University.

Before joining UD, Carlson had a distinguished career of more than 25 years at the University of Notre Dame, where she served in several key leadership roles, including vice president, associate provost and dean of the Graduate School. She served as director of graduate studies in the psychology department and later as associate chair. Carlson joined the Notre Dame faculty in 1994 as an assistant professor of psychology, becoming a full professor in 2008.

A fellow of the Association of Psychological Science, she has received several teaching awards, including the Rev. Edmund P. Joyce C.S.C. Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.

Carlson’s primary research interest is spatial cognition — how we mentally represent the places and objects around us — and her work has been supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. She takes an interdisciplinary approach to her work, publishing with scholars across the fields of computer science, engineering, architecture and linguistics.

A cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College with a special major in psychology of language, she received a Master of Arts degree at Michigan State University and earned her Ph.D. at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.