Bates vice president Joshua McIntosh appointed executive dean of Harvard Kennedy School

Joshua McIntosh, a member of the senior leadership team at Bates College since 2014, will step down from his position as vice president for campus life, effective Feb. 1, 2024, to become executive dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University on Feb. 5.

At Bates, McIntosh is credited with bringing greater strength and efficiency to the large network of support services provided to Bates students across all dimensions of their lives. “Josh’s contributions to Bates and its students have been immense. He has led transformative systemic and structural change in Bates’ outstanding student affairs program,” said Garry W. Jenkins, president of Bates College.

“Josh has an uncommon talent for building intentionally designed, affirmative, and responsive initiatives and structures to support student development and success. He fosters collaborative partnerships that bring students, faculty, and staff together. He spearheaded the consolidation and integration of student and campus services to enhance support for students while ensuring compliance with regulatory standards. He will be sorely missed by colleagues, friends, and students at Bates who have so benefitted from his wise counsel, passionate advocacy, and deep humanity,” Jenkins added.

“I admired Bates when I arrived. As I depart, admiration is mixed with great affection for Bates and Bates people,” said McIntosh. “I have worked with amazing colleagues over the last decade — talented, caring, and resilient. Whatever has been accomplished in the realm of Student Affairs has been accomplished by teamwork, collaboration, and good intentions. I am fortunate, and I will miss Bates.”

Jenkins said that Bates will announce plans for interim leadership and a search for the next vice president of campus life in the coming weeks.

At Harvard Kennedy School, McIntosh will serve as the chief administrative officer, overseeing the areas of financial operations, facilities, human resources, information technology, communications, the library, research administration, security, and executive education.

In announcing McIntosh’s appointment, Dean of Harvard Kennedy School Douglas Elmendorf said, “With his experience as a strategic leader and proven dedication to the mission of higher education, Josh will be a tremendous asset to the Kennedy School. I’m delighted that he will join our community and help advance our mission of improving public policy and leadership.”

At Bates, McIntosh led a Student Affairs division comprising 13 campus and student services departments, developing a reputation for aligning college programs with best practices, while also being engaged, forward-thinking, and personally accessible to students.

During his time at the college, he undertook and completed a comprehensive reorganization of offices under Student Affairs that has measurably improved the support programs provided to students across all dimensions of their lives while creating stronger collaborations between Student Affairs and the college’s academic faculty and programs, including the area of student advising. He also helped implement and lead Purposeful Work, the college’s nationally known program, rooted in the liberal arts, that prepares students for lives of meaning and purpose, and developed new systems and structures for the administration of the Bates athletics program.

In the area of student health services, he led the creation of an innovative partnership with Lewiston’s Central Maine Medical Center that expanded the scope of clinical services and diagnostic services, improved patient satisfaction, and reduced college expenses. In the realm of diversity, equity, and inclusion, he helped build diversity among student leaders, implemented equity- and inclusion-focused programming and training for students and staff, and helped create the Kessler Scholars Program. He assumed leadership of the Office of Intercultural Education beginning in 2022 and rapidly and successfully recruited new colleagues to fully staff the office.

Beginning in 2015, McIntosh and his team undertook a top-to-bottom restructuring of the college’s First-Year Experience (FYE) program to better introduce new Bates students to curricular and co-curricular opportunities, their new community and place, and the values of equity, inclusion, and access that are at the core of the Bates mission. In 2023, the Bates FYE program was awarded a Collaboration Award by NASPA, a leading national association for student affairs professionals, for successfully delivering a “holistic and cohesive experience for new students throughout their entire first year.”

In early 2020, McIntosh played a leadership role in steering Bates through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, including developing a strategic plan for the college’s return to an on-campus learning experience for the 2020–21 academic year. Bates successfully met the challenge to protect the health and safety of all members of the community, including establishment of a robust campus COVID-19 testing organization that conducted over 200,000 tests in its two years of existence.

During his tenure, McIntosh partnered with various college programs on residential and student-life facilities improvements, including the construction of Chu and Kalperis Halls, which opened in 2016, and a major renovation of Chase Hall, completed in fall 2023.

McIntosh came to Bates from Johns Hopkins University, where he oversaw a number of departments and worked closely with the president and provost on a number of strategic priorities. Prior to Johns Hopkins, he held management and leadership positions at Harvard and Syracuse universities.

McIntosh earned an undergraduate degree from Elon University, a master’s in college student development from Appalachian State University, and a doctorate in higher education administration from Syracuse University.