Jenifer K. Ward will retire from her role as President of Luther College in June 2025. Ward announced the decision herself in a message to the Luther community on April 29.
Ward is currently slated to begin her sixth year as President on July 1. Her official last day in the role is June 30, 2025. Immediately after, she will transition to “an advisory capacity” to assist the Board of Regents in onboarding the new President.
Ward said in her message that she started including “succession planning” in her biweekly meetings with Board of Regents Chair Bob Paulson (‘78) and Vice-Chair Shannon Duval (‘95) in February. This decision was motivated by two factors: the conclusion of Luther’s strategic framework in Summer 2025, and Ward’s personal desire to properly time a presidential transition.
“We are now engaged in and will continue to build readiness for an exciting and ambitious campaign at Luther,” Ward wrote in her message. “As we completed the campaign preparation study this year and the data showed that we were indeed ready to begin a feasibility study, I knew that the timing of a presidential transition would need to be a consideration for this process, and that presidential transitions are best accomplished at the beginning or end of campaigns, but not in the middle.”
Ward’s message was followed by a separate message from Luther’s Board of Regents, which was written by Paulson and Duval. The Chair and Vice-Chair shared appreciation to Ward for her “exemplary service and for putting the best interests of Luther College front and center through careful succession planning.”
“We appreciate the timing of President Ward’s decision to retire, which allows the Regents to immediately begin the process of identifying her successor in a thoughtful way,” Paulson and Duval wrote in their message. “The Regents will discuss and determine the process, next steps and timeline to identify and select Luther’s 12th president and will update the college communities following our regularly scheduled meeting in May.”
Student Senate President Jaraad Afroze Ahmed (‘25) told CHIPS that he was surprised to hear about Ward’s decision to retire, considering all of the upcoming projects that she had been overseeing as College President. “I think this is admirable of [Ward] to be able to step down at the cusp of a rejuvenated Luther,” Ahmed said. “I have huge expectations of President Ward in her capacity as a coach to the incoming president, and I expect big things from Luther’s cabinet.”
Ward was elected as President in March 2019, replacing former President Paula J. Carlson. During her time at Luther, she led the college through the COVID-19 pandemic and widespread academic curriculum changes, as well as the creation and implementation of Luther’s strategic framework. She also announced a historic $10 million donation to renovate the Regents Center in November 2023.
Ward closed her message by expressing her excitement to “make the absolute most of this time together with the Luther community.”
“For now, thank you, as always, for your commitment to the college we all love,” Ward said. “As I said in my inauguration address, Luther is ‘always becoming’ and it continues to be my privilege to serve as the president of this special college.”
More about Ward’s decision can be found at luther.edu/news.
