Boston University’s Office of the Provost announced that Melissa Holt, current associate dean of Wheelock College of Education and Human Development, will be the next director of Kilachand Honors College starting July 1.
Holt wrote in an email that she is looking forward to getting to know the Kilachand student body.
“I intend to come in and first listen deeply rather than join the community with a set agenda,” Holt wrote.
Holt, who has been a faculty member at Wheelock for 12 years, wrote that she takes on a “range of responsibilities” as Wheelock’s associate dean for faculty affairs, like co-leading monthly new faculty mentoring sessions.
Carrie Preston, the current director of Kilachand Honors College since 2017, announced in December through the Office of the Provost, that she is stepping down from Kilachand on June 30.
Holt wrote that as the new director of Kilachand she hopes to “build on the initiatives Professor Preston developed.”
Preston wrote in an email that she decided to step down in order to dedicate her energy to building the University’s new Center on Forced Displacement, a program that was founded in 2022 and aims to bring awareness to humanitarian emergencies.
She wrote her “biggest challenge” at Kilachand was balancing an intensive leadership role while maintaining her research and teaching.
“[Director of Kilachand] is a role that demands leadership and an expansive exploration of higher education,” she wrote. “I got to retain very close relationships with students and faculty and teach my personal dream courses. It is … rare for a university leader to have that mix of university-wide impact and close personal contact with students and faculty.”
Next year, Preston will be on sabbatical and wrote that she hopes to finish multiple book projects she has been working on.
“Directing Kilachand was a tremendous honor, the greatest honor of my professional life so far,” she wrote. “It is also, simply put, one of the coolest jobs in the entire University.”
Isaac Killilea, a sophomore in Kilachand Honors College and the College of Arts and Sciences, said Holt will bring a bit of a transition, as Holt specializes in counseling psychology and applied human development, while Preston teaches women’s gender and sexuality studies and English.
“Hopefully, we’ll have a different focus on the academic side of things, maybe with some new … possible classes that could be introduced to the Kilachand curriculum,” Killilea said. “Giving more voice to the students would help a lot.”
Sydney Aslan, a freshman in KHC and CAS, said Preston will be “greatly missed,” and she hopes Holt will continue Preston’s efforts being interactive with the students.
“It would be really great if [Holt] continued Dr. Preston’s legacy of maintaining the open communication with students and preserving Kilachand’s efforts to engage in social justice initiatives,” Aslan said.
Aslan added how in the future she would love to see Kilachand interact more with other colleges within BU and the city of Boston through community service initiatives.
“It will be really important for [Professor] Holt to continue Dr. Preston’s legacy of maintaining an open communication with students and preserving Kilachand’s efforts to be engaged in social justice initiatives,” Aslan wrote.
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