In her first few weeks on campus this fall, UVM’s new president has been hard to miss — from cheering at soccer games to hauling furniture on move-in day. 

As Dr. Marlene Tromp kicked off her tenure, she made connecting with the student body a top priority.

“I love getting a chance to talk to students about what they care about,” Tromp said. “I just want to be where students are.” 

UVM’s 28th president joins the University after six years as President of Boise State University. As a humanities scholar, Tromp has credentials in Victorian studies, as well as Women’s and Queer studies, she said.

Much of her research focuses on ghosts, séances, murder and Victorian spiritualism, she said.

As an undergraduate at Creighton University in Nebraska, Tromp fell in love with learning and teaching others, she said.

“[A friend asked] ‘What do you want to do when you graduate?’ and I said, ‘I just want to stay in college forever.’ I have succeeded,” Tromp said.

The chance to provide students with the life-changing opportunity of education has always been a driving force in Tromp’s career. Growing up in Green River, Wyoming, Tromp saw the lack of access to higher education firsthand, she said.

“I thought about all this talent that wasn’t getting access to education, and that was really tragic to me,” Tromp said.

When Tromp first got involved in administrative work, she was hesitant because it did not leave her as much time to be a professor in the classroom.

“A colleague asked me, ‘Do you want to impact hundreds of students or tens of thousands?’” Tromp said. “For me, that was really the transformational moment.”

Serving alongside Tromp is interim provost and senior vice president Linda Schadler, former dean of the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences.

Schadler was immediately drawn to UVM when she visited Burlington as an undergraduate, she said.

“I remember saying to my basketball team, I’m gonna live here one day,” Schadler said. “So when the job showed up, it’s not like I had to think about it.”

Both Tromp and Schadler have spent much of their careers at private institutions, so transitioning to a public land-grant university was something that also attracted them to UVM, they said.

“There’s something really profound about what a public [school] does and what a land-grant’s mission is: to serve people, to serve the state, to serve the future,” Tromp said.

UVM, one of the nation’s first land-grant institutions, was founded to provide public access to higher education and serve the state of Vermont through agriculture, research and connecting students with local communities, according to UVM’s Office of the President. 

“It feels very mission-driven to me,” Tromp said. “To make the education of people possible, better [and] more accessible. I feel really fortunate.”

In her first few months at UVM, Tromp has taken a hands-on approach, meeting locals, legislators and educators face-to-face, she said.

“By mid-October, I will have visited every county in the state,” Tromp said.

Tromp emphasized centering student voices in her administration and has been meeting with SGA to discuss initiatives for the upcoming year.

“I was in awe of her level of experience,” said junior SGA President Kennedy Connors. “I think that she carries a really new, interesting perspective to UVM.”

With help from SGA and staff, Tromp’s administration will form a strategic planning committee to define UVM’s goals over the next few years with student voices at the center, Tromp said.

“We can move together in a way that’s more powerful than if everybody’s operating on their own,” Tromp said.

Centralizing student support services and adapting the curriculum to prepare students for a world shaped by AI are also core goals of the administration, Schadler said.

“I just love the idea of making things easier for students to access, reducing the barriers to getting help,” Tromp said.

The most difficult part of transitioning to administrative roles was losing classroom time with students, so Tromp seizes any opportunity to connect with students, she said.

Tromp’s visibility has not gone unrecognized on campus. Tromp’s speech at the first-year convocation inspired a renewed sense of pride in the University, Connors said.

“[President Tromp] was on campus during orientation week more than I’ve ever seen from UVM admin,” said senior Alyssa Sullivan, a 4-time Orientation Leader. 

After convocation, Tromp met all of the Orientation Leaders face-to-face to thank them for their hard work, Sullivan said.

“She said ‘thank you all for making this so special,’” Sullivan said, “‘You were all my Orientation Leaders too.’”

Tromp attended ActivitiesFest, contributing to her goal of visiting every student club while in office. While the task could take months, she insists it’s worth the time. 

Tromp’s hands-on approach is a shift from the past administration, Connors said.

“These past couple of weeks, I feel like I have seen her everywhere,” Connors said. “That really excites me.”

So, if you see Tromp on campus, don’t be afraid to stop and say ‘hi.’ She’s eager to hear what you care about — or just to share a good ghost story.

“I have never been someplace where people loved their University this much,” Tromp said. “I have the coolest job that there is.”