Dr. S. Georgia Nugent, President Emerita of Kenyon College

Dr. S. Georgia Nugent shares a leadership story shaped by an itinerant childhood, moving several times a year as the daughter of a thoroughbred racehorse trainer, and by the experience of being a first-generation college student entering Princeton University in its first class of women. Her path into higher education leadership unfolded through unexpected invitations, formative mentors, and moments when values had to guide difficult decisions. In this episode, Dr. Nugent reflects candidly on how leaders come to know themselves, why institutional clarity matters, and what it means to uphold academic values when free speech, community well-being, and moral responsibility collide. Now serving as President-in-Residence at the American Academic Leadership Institute, she brings decades of lived experience as a scholar and president to her reflections on the human weight of leadership in higher education. Read the full episode transcript. Interview recorded December 2025.