Joanne Berger-Sweeney, Ph.D.
Joanne Berger-Sweeney retired as the 22nd president of Trinity College in June 2025 where she served for 11 years. She was the first African American and the first woman to serve as Trinity’s president. Under her leadership, Trinity completed its ambitious strategic plan, Summit, and the All In comprehensive campaign, the largest fundraising campaign its history. Trinity saw a 50-percent increase in financial aid for undergraduate students, enriching the socioeconomic diversity of the student body. Student retention rates (91 percent) increased, as did postgraduation career outcome success rates, with 95 percent of the Class of 2024 employed, in graduate school, or engaged in full-time military or public service within six months of graduating. Under Berger-Sweeney, the College completed a restoration of its beloved Chapel and the creation of new athletic fields, the Crescent Center for Arts and Neuroscience, and the Gruss Music Center. Currently underway is a $30 million expansion to the George M. Ferris Athletic Center that will create new opportunities for wellness activities.
Berger-Sweeney has served on many boards including Hartford HealthCare, Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges, and the Capital Region Development Authority appointed by then-Governor Dannel P. Malloy. She served as vice chair of the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Division III Presidents Council; a board member of the Allen Institute, the Institute of International Education, and The Henry 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) and as a member of the Wellesley College faculty, joining in 1991 as an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, the Allene Lummis Russell Professor in Neuroscience, and an associate dean.
Berger-Sweeney received an undergraduate degree in psychobiology from Wellesley College, an MPH in environmental health sciences from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in neurotoxicology from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, where she did the proof-of-concept work on Razadyne, one of the most widely used Alzheimer’s drugs in the world.