New faces and transitions at Earlham College

New leadership at Earlham College has been appointed to support academic affairs, enrollment management, athletics, strategic and diversity initiatives, and the Earlham School of Religion.

Two longtime Earlham professors have also transitioned into new roles recently.

Tara Natarajan was selected in October to become Earlham’s next provost and vice president of academic affairs.

She is currently the dean of the faculty at St. Michael’s College outside Burlington, Vermont. Her first day at Earlham will be Feb. 1, 2022.

Natarajan began her career as an assistant professor of economics at St. Michael’s in 2001. She earned tenure in 2007 and chaired St. Michael’s economics department from 2016 to 2019.

At Earlham, Natarajan will become the first person of color to serve as an Earlham vice president for academic affairs, and its first international Cabinet member. She will be a member of one of the most diverse Cabinets in Earlham’s history, and the first that is majority women.

She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 2001, her master’s in economics from the University of Bombay, India, and her bachelor’s from Sophia College in Bombay, India. Tara also spent time in an experiential program focused on global issues in Norway.

Gariot P. Louima was named the College’s first associate vice president for strategic and diversity initiatives in September.

In this newly created role, Louima will advance strategic initiatives that widen the path to an Earlham education and build upon the College’s longstanding commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, including the implementation of a comprehensive DEI action plan.

Louima was previously vice president for enrollment and student success at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

He earned his Ph.D. in interdisciplinary studies from Union Institute and University; an M.F.A. in writing and literature from Bennington College Writing Seminars; an M.S. in management from Nova Southeastern University; and a B.S. in communication from the University of Miami.

Phil Betz was hired in June to become Earlham’s next vice president of enrollment management.

He was previously the director of admissions for Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa., a position he has held for six years.

Betz is responsible for the day-to-day operations of a team of 15 enrollment management and financial aid professionals — a team that recruits one of the nation’s most diverse student bodies from 50 states and dozens of countries around the world.

He is an alumnus of Pacific Lutheran University, where he graduated with a bachelor of arts in secondary education and an MBA.

Gretchen Castle, a global Quaker leader with decades of organizational development experience, was named the next dean of the Earlham School of Religion in June. She is ESR’s first female dean.

For the last nine years, Castle has served as the General Secretary of the Friends World Committee for Consultation in the Quaker World Office in London, traveling extensively to bring greater unity to Quakers worldwide.

Castle is no stranger to Earlham or Richmond, Indiana. She attended nursery school at Stout Meetinghouse on Earlham’s campus and also earned her undergraduate degree in human development and social relations from the College in 1979. Her father, David Castle, was a former pastor at First Friends Meeting in Richmond.

She later earned her master’s degree in organizational development and adult learning from Temple University in Philadelphia in 1986.

Adam Hutchinson was named the new director of athletics at Earlham College in June.

Hutchinson joined Earlham Athletics from Kean University, an NCAA Division III institution in Union, New Jersey, where he had served as assistant director of athletics for internal operations and student-athlete development since October 2020.

Hutchinson was the head men’s basketball coach at Kean from October 2018 to August 2020.

He is a 1993 graduate of Amherst College where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Black Studies. He earned his master of science in sports management from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst after receiving an NCAA Graduate Scholarship for Careers in Athletics (only eight awarded nationally each year based on distinction earned as an undergraduate). 

Corinne Deibel, a longtime professor of chemistry at Earlham College, became Earlham’s registrar in July.

A member of Earlham’s faculty since 1997 and a leader on campus in the areas of collaborative research and off-campus study, Deibel was well-versed to make this transition.

A first-generation woman in science and an international faculty member, Deibel completed her undergraduate education and a master’s degree at Ecole Supérieure de Chimie Organique and Minérale, in Paris. She earned her Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Kentucky.

Before coming to Earlham, she worked at the Center for Applied Energy Research and at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.

Rajaram Krishnan was hired as Earlham first associate vice president of institutional effectiveness in June.

Krishnan is currently a professor of economics at Earlham and has been on the faculty since 1999.

Krishnan will play a pivotal role as the College prepares for its 10-year accreditation visit from the Higher Learning Commission in 2024.

Krishnan did his undergraduate work at Vivekananda College, Madras, and earned his Ph.D. in economics at Boston University.