TO: Wellesley College Faculty and Staff
FROM: Courtney Coile, Provost and Lia Gelin Poorvu ’56 Dean of the College
DATE: January 6, 2025
RE: Wellesley Centers for Women leadership change
After more than 12 years as the Katherine Stone Kaufmann ’67 Executive Director of the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW), Layli Maparyan will be leaving the College at the end of February to serve as president of the University of Liberia. This is a momentous opportunity for Layli to lead the flagship university in a country that is close to her heart, and I hope you will join me in wishing her well.
During her time at WCW, Layli oversaw the development of a strategic road map covering 2014 to 2024 that established a forward-looking vision and direction for its work. At the celebration of WCW’s 50th anniversary last September, President Paula Johnson observed, “The Wellesley Centers for Women has represented the power of advancing women through evidence-based research for half a century and has proved the College’s founding vision that by making the world better for women, Wellesley would make the world better overall.”
Under Layli’s leadership, WCW attracted and retained top-notch researchers and project directors; added the international scholars-in-residence program; greatly diversified its staff; and developed a new generation of researchers. WCW also raised $75 million in revenue, including $10 million in gifts and over $45 million in grants and contracts, to support its vital work. WCW’s outreach and engagement with key stakeholders, changemakers, and funders also increased significantly.
Layli’s passion for international work greatly expanded WCW’s global reach, particularly in Africa. She developed or facilitated important partnerships and collaborations in Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Germany, Ghana, India, Liberia, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, and Uganda, including two international conferences with women- and gender-focused research and action institutes abroad that included Wellesley faculty. Additionally, under her watch WCW organized several panels for the NGO Forum of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.
Layli has also been a respected and beloved professor of Africana studies and served as chair of the department for a total of five years. She has participated on numerous College committees, commissions, and task forces, including the Committee on Faculty Appointments, the Commission on Ethnicity, Race, and Equity, and the Black Task Force, which she co-chaired, and on the Strategic Planning Working Group for Wellesley in the World. Throughout her time as executive director, Layli has worked assiduously to bring WCW and the College closer together—most recently by shepherding WCW through a major reorganization and collaborating with faculty directors of the Albright Institute and the Hillary Rodham Clinton Center for Citizenship, Leadership, and Democracy as part of the new Wagner Centers for Wellesley in the World.
“My time at Wellesley has truly been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life,” she said. “To work in such a mission-driven community with world-class colleagues and among some of the most brilliant students in the world has been an extraordinary experience. I will always carry this place with me, and it will continue to inspire me as I begin my next adventure.”
Georgia Hall, associate director of WCW, has graciously agreed to serve as interim director while the College launches a search for the WCW’s next executive director. I plan to share more details on that search later this month.
Please join me in thanking Layli for her service to Wellesley and congratulating her on this exciting new role.
