To: The Wellesley College Community
From: President Paula A. Johnson
Re: News about Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Joy St. John
Date: November 4, 2021
I am writing to let you know that Joy St. John, dean of admission and financial aid, will be leaving Wellesley at the end of this academic year to become the director of admissions at Harvard College.
During her 11-year tenure at Wellesley, Joy has transformed our admission and financial aid policies in ways that increased the excellence and the diversity of our student body. At the same time, she has been a national leader in advocating for greater access and diversity in selective college admissions in her role as a member of the advisory committee for the Access and Diversity Collaborative of the College Board and as Wellesley’s representative to the Consortium on Financing Higher Education (COFHE) Assembly.
I have been so fortunate to have had Joy as a Senior Leadership partner since I came to Wellesley almost five and a half years ago. Her deep understanding of admission and financial aid and her commitment to our students have transformed the department, which has seen the largest numbers of applicants since Wellesley began this measurement.
Under her leadership, Wellesley has recruited its most diverse classes, which has deeply enhanced the student experience. One of the first issues Joy brought to me was the possibility of joining the Posse Foundation and recruiting a STEM posse from Houston. We entered that agreement with the goals of recruiting outstanding students and learning how we might include larger numbers of students in similar programs in the future. Joy delivered, and this year we will recruit an enhanced cohort of 20 QuestBridge Scholars to Wellesley with a new program to assist students in their transition to Wellesley.
More recently, Joy readied us to recruit a class during the pandemic, quickly adopting the most powerful platform available, which resulted in the largest increase in applications in recent memory.
This is a bittersweet moment for me. I will miss Joy’s tremendous sense of humor and sharp wit, but even more, I will miss her wise counsel on so many issues at the College. Joy has left an indelible mark on this institution, and I am so grateful for her dedicated service and her partnership. At the same time, I am thrilled that she will be bringing her boundless energy, vision, and deep commitment to access and diversity to Harvard, my alma mater—I know she will help drive transformative change there and in higher education more broadly.
Fortunately, we will have the pleasure of Dean St. John’s leadership until mid-May. We plan to launch a national search for a new dean of admission and financial aid in the near future. We deeply appreciate Joy’s commitment to complete the academic year at Wellesley and Harvard’s generosity in allowing her to do so. This will allow for a seamless transition, as well as give us time to celebrate Joy and the impact she has had on Wellesley.
