Folse Named Next President of Ripon College

May 24, 2022

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Dr. Victoria Noltkamper Folse '86, director and Caroline F. Rupert Chair of the IWU School of Nursing and executive director of Counseling and Health Services, has been named the 14th president of Ripon College, a private liberal arts college in Ripon, Wisconsin. Folse will be the first woman formally inaugurated as president in the institution's 170-year history.

Folse’s unanimous selection by the Ripon College Board of Trustees follows a seven-month, nationwide search led by Ripon College trustees, faculty, staff, students, alumni and community members. Leaders said Folse stood out among a highly accomplished group of candidates with diverse backgrounds and experiences.  

She plans to move to Ripon, Wisconsin, this summer with her husband, Dick Folse '85, IWU Director of Grants and Foundation Relations. Dr. Folse will officially assume the presidency on July 1.

“My interest in being a college president really has to do with building, growing and establishing a sense of community,” Folse said. “All the decisions I make are student-centered. I believe, as president, I can have an impact on the undergraduate student experience and I want to be actively involved in the students’ lives."

"Professor Folse has been an outstanding leader at Illinois Wesleyan," said President S. Georgia Nugent. "IWU’s School of Nursing is among the top programs in the state, due in large part to the academic rigor and innovative thinking that she brought to the program. The university has also called on her leadership in many other instances, in each case to great effect. For example, she served as interim director of the School of Music and executive director of the university’s health services; in addition she became the major architect of the institution’s very successful COVID-19 response.

"Effective leadership across such a variety of roles is certainly noteworthy, and Ripon is to be congratulated on selecting Dr. Victoria Folse as the 14th president of the college."

Folse joined Illinois Wesleyan's faculty in 2002. She has served as the director and endowed chair of the School of Nursing since 2009 and executive director of Counseling and Health Services since 2019. 

Folse earned her bachelor of science in nursing from Illinois Wesleyan, a master of science in psychiatric nursing from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a Ph.D. in nursing with a concentration in research from Saint Louis University. She is a licensed clinical nurse specialist in adult psychiatric nursing, an advanced practice registered nurse and a licensed clinical professional counselor.

Dr. Jerry Durham, former IWU School of Nursing Director, will provide interim leadership at Illinois Wesleyan while a national search for the next director of the School of Nursing is launched.