SEPTEMBER 5, 2025 | NEWS | By Tessa Frantz
On Tuesday, June 24, the Board of Trustees officially announced Manya Whitaker’s appointment as 15th President of Colorado College. In an email sent to the greater CC community on June 24, the Board described Whitaker as a person who “has demonstrated an unwavering dedication to equity, access, academic rigor, and the enduring and undeniable relevance of a liberal arts education.”
Whitaker is stepping into the role after almost a year serving as Interim President of CC.
This summer, while students were away, Whitaker spent her daƒeys on campus, working on divisional strategic plans and traveling for events.
“The events don’t really stop for me, though they do slow down,” she said. “It was a productive summer.”
Over the summer, Colorado College hosted the Department of Defense Warrior Games. The games were part of an initiative put forth by the city of Colorado Springs, titled the ‘City for Champions.’ City for Champions is a collection of five venues including Ed Robson Arena, the Olympic and Paralympic Museum, Weidner Field of the Colorado Springs Switchbacks, William Hybl Sports Medicine & Performance Center of University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) and the Air Force Academy Visitor Center.
As part of the City for Champions project, CC has committed to hosting community events on campus. According to Whitaker, hosting the Warrior Games this summer was a part of a greater effort by the school to increasingly interact with the City of Colorado Springs.
“That’s just one of our efforts to reconnect the college to Colorado Springs and of course to boost our visibility,” Whitaker said regarding the games.
With a shift from interim presidency to a permanent one, Whitaker says her mindset has changed. “I can focus on more long-term initiatives and impacts,” she said, though her overall vision to claim our space in higher education remains the same. “It’s very much a continuation of what we were already doing last year.”
Whitaker emphasizes that one of her top priorities is resource allocation and making sure that school resources are used “in ways that enhance the student experience.”
In line with this, the college is undergoing an institutional review, to better understand where inefficiencies and waste lie. “We’re not an institution that has always done the best job tracking how money is spent and why,” she said.
The review, conducted by an external firm, will report on how well the college utilizes people, budget, space and technology. “The hope is to better align resource allocation with institutional priorities.”
Furthermore, Whitaker shed some light on a continued effort to reboot CC’s marketing efforts. After reentering the U.S. News & World Report Rankings last spring, the college has continued to update certain facets of its marketing.
Notably, the school has fashioned a new viewbook, boosted alumni campaigns and is in the midst of finalizing designs for a website refresh, which should drop in December or January.
Specific aspects of CC’s visual identity, such as the logo, fonts and colors, will stay the same.
“It’s about telling our story clearly and knowing when to emphasize which parts of who we are to which audience,” said Whitaker. “This is not a place to just be, it’s a place to become.”
While reflecting on her first year on the job, Whitaker mentions that one of her biggest challenges yet proudest accomplishments was her work to knit campus culture back together. Post-COVID and amidst current political and social tensions, she focused heavily on emphasizing community.
“People showed up to support each other in ways we haven’t in years prior. I don’t take credit for that but it does matter that I am present and visible on campus, that the college leadership is visible. We’ll definitely continue that this year.”
Similarly, Whitaker hopes to further improve her communication and transparency with the student body. “I don’t know that we’ve done as well as we should have, particularly to students,” she said. “There will be more communications directly from me.”
Looking forward to this academic year, Whitaker expressed that the administration remains vigilant regarding various initiatives put forth by the Trump administration. Last spring, the school was deeply concerned by modifications to the Endowment Excise Tax, though CC has since been exempt from those changes because it has an enrollment of under 3,000 students.
“The area we continue to watch is international student type stuff,” Whitaker said. She also contends that the school remains vigilant with ICE being present in the local community.
Despite these tensions, Whitaker warmly states that she is excited to be around students again and participate in the community as much as she can.
“I love hanging out with the students. That’s the part I look forward to the most,” she said. “Last year was baby steps, now I feel comfortable fully walking and in some cases jogging to move forward.”