The Virtual Long Walk
invites you to
Committed to the Future:
Ensuring Access to Higher Education
with
Mike Allen ’92
President, Barry University
Joanne Berger-Sweeney
President, Trinity College
Jane Fernandes ’78
President, Antioch College
and moderated by
Walt Harrison ’68, H’18
President Emeritus, University of Hartford
Wednesday, January 24, 2024
7:00 p.m. ET
Zoom
Join us for a special series of “Committed to the Future” Virtual Long Walk events during Trinity College’s yearlong Bicentennial celebration.
In this discussion, college and university presidents will discuss how we can help ensure higher education is accessible to all.
Mike Allen ’92
Mike Allen, Ph.D. became the seventh president of Barry University on July 1, 2019. An experienced higher education administrator, Dr. Allen skillfully marshaled the institution through the global pandemic all while boosting its progress, and creating an impressive strategic framework for the future.
From the outset of his tenure, the institution realized significant achievements including three consecutive academic years of freshman enrollment growth, being listed as one of the 2022 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges for Social Mobility among National Universities, and named one of America’s Top Colleges in 2021 by Forbes. True to Barry’s Adrian Dominican heritage, President Allen has made engagement and service to the South Florida Community a top priority.
He has established partnerships with impactful organizations such as Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami, United Way of Miami, and Casa Familia; spearheaded the creation of the President’s Community Leadership Council, a body consisting of South Florida leaders in healthcare, business, law, philanthropy, education, and more; and established the Institute for Immigration Studies, an academic center dedicated to the study and understanding of the multicultural South Florida immigrant experience.
Dr. Allen came to Barry University from The Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. where he served as vice president for student affairs for six years and as associate vice president and director of athletics for eight years. Additionally, he designed and implemented academic support programs for students at Florida Atlantic University and the University of Connecticut between 1993 and 2005.
President Allen holds a Bachelor of Arts from Trinity College, and a Master of Arts and Doctoral degree from the School of Education at the University of Connecticut, where his dissertation and research focused on the academic socialization and personal development of intercollegiate student athletes. He has two children, Maya and James.
Joanne Berger-Sweeney
Joanne Berger-Sweeney became the 22nd president of Trinity College in July 2014. The first African American and the first woman to serve as president of the college since it was founded in 1823.
Over the course of her tenure, Berger-Sweeney has overseen several major accomplishments, including the completion of Trinity’s ambitious strategic plan, Summit; the creation of the Bantam Network and the Career and Life Design Center; and the introduction of Trinity Plus, an innovative liberal arts curriculum. She has strengthened the college’s relationship with the capital city, expanding Trinity’s campus footprint into downtown Hartford, and establishing an innovation center, the Liberal Arts Action Lab, and an exclusive liberal arts partnership with the global technology firm Infosys.
Since Berger-Sweeney’s arrival, Trinity has seen notable markers of financial success, including a string of balanced operating budgets, an endowment that has nearly doubled, and the launch of the largest fundraising campaign in the college’s history.
Berger-Sweeney has served on many boards in the Hartford region and beyond, including Hartford HealthCare, where she serves as the board chair; the Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges, for which she is the past chair, and the Capital Region Development Authority. She also serves on the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III Presidents Council, as a board member of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and the Luce Foundation, and as a member of the Neuroscience Selection Advisory Board for the prestigious Gruber Prize.
Before coming to Trinity, Berger-Sweeney served as dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Tufts University (2010–14). She began her academic career as a member of the Wellesley College faculty, joining in 1991 as an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and rising through the ranks to become the Allene Lummis Russell Professor in Neuroscience.
Berger-Sweeney received an undergraduate degree in psychobiology from Wellesley College, an M.P.H. in environmental health sciences from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in neurotoxicology from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.
Jane Fernandes ’78
In August, 2021, Dr. Jane Fernandes became the second female president and first Deaf
president in over 170 years of Antioch history. In 2023, the proposed Social Enterprise and
Enrollment Plan (SEE) was enthusiastically approved by the Board of Trustees, which primarily
focuses on increasing student enrollment and revenue generation across the College. With strong
fundraising, she strengthens relationships with current alumni and creates an expanded donor
base to draw new Antioch friends. Increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion is a top priority
wherever she works.
Before coming to Antioch College, Jane served as the first female president of Guilford College
in North Carolina. She was the first Deaf woman to lead an American college or university. As a
steering committee member of the President’s Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration,
she continues to advocate for bipartisan Congressional support for an approved path to
citizenship for DACA students. Guilford achieved victory in a federal lawsuit on behalf of
international students on campus and in colleges throughout the nation.
At Guilford, she launched the Guilford Edge with a new academic calendar and program of
integrated advising. The campus produced a data-driven plan for student success with record
highs in graduation rates and first-year retention rates. Her work with alumni and donors resulted
in enrollment and fundraising growth.
Service includes:
President’s Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, Friends Council on Education, IFB
Solutions (Industries for the Blind), Pendle Hill, Bonner Foundation, Springboard Foundation,
Johnnetta Cole Global Diversity and Inclusion Institute, National Deaf Education Project,
National Organization on Disability, Emergency Preparedness Initiative and Special Needs
Conference, U.S. Secret Service, Emergency Preparedness Program.
Jane married Professor James Fernandes in 1988. They have two adult children. She has
published several articles and poems on issues including equity and social justice. She is a
committed Quaker.
Fernandes earned an undergraduate degree in French and comparative literature from Trinity
College, and a Masters and Ph.D. in comparative literature from the University of Iowa.
Walt Harrison ’68, H’18
Walter Harrison served as president of the University of Hartford for nearly 20 years before retiring in 2017. His career in higher education began as a member of the American Studies faculty at Johannes Gutenberg University in Germany, then on the English faculty at Iowa State University, and then on the English faculty at Colorado College, where he became an administrator, serving as associate director and then director of college relations. After a stint leading the media relations consulting firm Gehrung Associates, he returned to the University of Michigan, where he was named vice president of university relations and secretary of the University, roles he held until 1998, the year he returned to Connecticut.
Since retiring, Harrison has taught classes in American literature and American studies, especially courses on baseball and its place in American culture, about which he has written widely. He spends the majority of his time serving on boards of health care, theatre, and educational institutions, including serving as a trustee of Trinity College.
Harrison earned his B.A. with honors from Trinity, an M.A. from the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis, all in English. In 1998 Trinity honored him with an alumni medal for excellence, and in 2018, with an honorary doctor of humane letters degree. He and his wife, Dianne Mintz Harrison, reside in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, and West Hartford.
Please reach out to Bonnie Wolters at bonnie.wolters@trincoll.edu with any questions about this event.
View recordings of past virtual events on the Virtual Long Walk.
See all upcoming events.