Ungar had personal knowledge of the transformative power of a liberal arts education. “If I hadn’t been plucked out of northeastern Pennsylvania and sent to Harvard, no telling where I would have ended up,” he says of the local Harvard Club’s decision to recommend a scholarship for a Wilkes-Barre boy who was among the first in his family to attend college. “It changed my life.” He also knew the transformative power of travel, not just tourist travel, but the immersive experience of living outside the United States. Those years working as a journalist in London and Cape Town and Nairobi and Paris shaped his life as much as the years at Harvard. The result was his signature stamp on the Goucher ethos—the requirement that every undergraduate study abroad at least once. The first full class required to do so graduated in 2010.
Ungar pauses for a moment in the Athenaeum.
ARRIVING WITH A VISION Ungar’s tenure at Goucher has encompassed some tough times. The tragedy of 9/11 occurred within weeks of his arrival. A few years later came the financial meltdown. And there is the continuing battle to reaffirm the relevance
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“When Sandy came in, we knew we had to position ourselves in a way that would give us more visibility and would lead to better enrollment,” says Trustee Patricia Batza ’91. “Sandy did that with the study-abroad requirement. In order to excel, we had to make ourselves unique. It was ingenious.” It did lead to better enrollment. During Ungar’s
of liberal arts institutions in an increasingly bottom-line-
presidency, Goucher grew by 25 percent, from 1,200 to
oriented society.
1,500 undergraduate students, and is more diverse than
But the new president had arrived on campus with a vision for all that the college could become—and within a
ever before. “If I had to point to one outstanding thing that Sandy
year, a new strategic plan was in place. It described, among
has done, I think the international-study program would be
other things, a grand new building for the campus called
it,” says John Bond, who chaired the board from 2004 to
an Athenaeum and proposed a “renewed emphasis on the
2009. “It has really set Goucher apart from other excellent,
global dimensions of the college’s curriculum.”
small liberal arts colleges—and it’s the future. You have to
JULY 1, 2006
APRIL 27, 2007
OCTOBER 27, 2007
Ungar begins a two-year term as chair of the Maryland Independent College and University Association.
Ungar, trustees, and college community members break ground for the Athenaeum.
Transcending Boundaries: The Campaign for Goucher College goes public.
SUMMER 2007
JULY 2008
Ungar signs the American College and University President’s Climate Commitment, which requires institutions to develop comprehensive plans to become “climate neutral.”
Ungar joins the Amethyst Initiative, a movement calling for a reconsideration of the national drinking age, prompting discussion about drinking and the safety of students.
FALL 2006
Goucher launches its Educational Opportunity Program, a scholarship and student support program for Maryland firstgeneration college students.
photo by Mitro Hood