Lafayette College will lose its vice president for communications less than a year into her tenure.
Kathryn Meier, who took over the communications division last March after nearly three years without a permanent leader, will resign effective March 6.
“It has been an honor to serve as Vice President of Communications and Marketing and I am proud of the work the division has accomplished over the last year,” Meier wrote in a statement. Both Meier and the campus-wide email announcing her departure on Tuesday noted she will be taking on an unnamed “new leadership position.”
Meier did not respond to requests to provide additional details on the new role; college President Nicole Hurd said that details of the role “are not public at this time.”
The communications division has seen turnover in key positions since Hurd assumed the presidency in 2021. Communications chief Mark Eyerly left in June 2022 with an $83,000 severance package, followed by a Massachusetts-based consultant who led on an interim basis for the next two-and-a-half years. That interim leader, Pete Mackey, quit in 2024 while a search for a permanent communications chief was underway. Meier’s arrival last March capped the 10-month nationwide search.
Last year saw the resignation of head photographer Adam Atkinson and the promotion of Scott Morse, the college spokesman and the division’s assistant vice president, out of communications and into the president’s office as chief of staff.
Meier’s departure will see Morse — who served as acting vice president for communications after Mackey’s resignation — back in the division’s hot seat on an interim basis.
Despite being Hurd’s chief of staff, Morse continues to perform some of the duties of the assistant vice president of communications while the seat remains empty.
“Our award-winning Communications Division remains strong,” wrote Hurd in an email. “This high performing division’s work will continue uninterrupted, and priorities remain clear.”
Hurd noted that the search for the next vice president, which will be spearheaded by Morse and Provost Laura McGrane, will launch before spring break.
“We are reviewing the position description before launching the search, and aim to fill the position with strong, lasting leadership for the division as soon as possible,” Morse wrote in an email.
“We respect Kathryn’s decision and understand this is a career opportunity she could not pass up,” he added.
Meier came to Lafayette after six years in strategy and communications at Drexel University’s flagship engineering school. Prior to that, she spent over a decade in different roles at the University of Delaware, her alma mater.
During her 11-month stint at Lafayette, Meier oversaw the launch of the college’s bicentennial campaign, which included an extensive rebrand. In addition to minor internal reorganization, Meier said she also guided the division towards more “academically-focused storytelling” and increased use of data analytics.
Lafayette filled several key vacancies in 2024 and 2025, entering the present academic year with a full roster of senior administrators — a first since Hurd’s inaugural year. Eleven of the 13 administrators on Hurd’s senior leadership team were hired under her.
Though Hurd has witnessed the departure of numerous senior administrators, Meier is the first of her own hires to leave. Accusations that the senior administration had been “hollowed out” under Hurd were among the many grievances cited by the faculty in their no-confidence vote against her last year.
“The college has an exceptional leadership team with the majority having several years at Lafayette,” Hurd wrote. “With a contract extension through June of 2030 and such a stellar team, I am confident in the strength and steadiness the college is experiencing and am excited for the future.”
Confused • Feb 21, 2026 at 3:31 pm
I have a kid who attends Lafayette. I have been super impressed every time I have heard President Hurd speak. My kid is having an amazing experience at Lafayette. From what I can tell (yes, quite removed from the campus), the President has been an incredible leader and Lafayette is doing an outstanding job educating their students. And yet I read negative comments like these. It’s fairly confusing.
A Word From Inside • Feb 21, 2026 at 9:36 pm
Your confusion is understandable! Lafayette faculty are world class teachers and college facilities and opportunities are terrific. Plus Hurd can be a good cheerleader and deliver emotional messages. And there is a large marketing system in place at Lafayette to keep things looking shiny.
But all is not well behind the scenes, where alumni and parents cannot see. The President does not have the skills or temperament needed to lead a world class liberal arts college. She is not a talented manager. Her leadership of strategic planning was very poor. She resents staff who do not agree with her and all that “love” can quickly turn into something very different very fast, hence the remarkable turnover problem. You may not see these things now, but they will take a heavy toll, long term.
I think the no confidence vote was done out of sheer desperation. That was when the Trustees should have tried to stabilize things, but they doubled-down. They now seem committed to pretending nothing is wrong. That kind of pretending is bad for any organization.
I am afraid that Lafayette will stay divided until Hurd leaves, no matter how often she mentions her contract or implies there are just a few bad people out there. It is very, very sad.
I am glad your kid is having a wonderful experience! Every single kid should. Hopefully, your kid will graduate and take the best of Lafayette with them, and the college will weather a president who history will see as a deeply divisive figure remembered mostly for a no confidence vote.
Alum 10 • Feb 23, 2026 at 6:44 am
Anonymous grumpy faculty posting negative rants on the student newspaper is arguably a more terrible look for the college than a President who does their best to connect with students and raise money. It’s almost as if some faculty actually want Hurd to fail!
A Word From Inside • Feb 23, 2026 at 7:54 pm
I am posting anonymously, just like you also are (!), because it is safer.
As a well-educated Lafayette alum, you should have known better than to assume I was a faculty member. But thank you for the compliment!
I am not grumpy. I am worried about the declining state of Lafayette and embarrassed for the college as it frantically tries to whitewash this situation.
Nicole Hurd is in her fifth year at Lafayette. She is ALREADY FAILING by any measure (fundraising, enrollments, shared vision, staff and student retention, you name it).
Don’t blame me, blame the Lafayette Trustees.
Alum 10 • Feb 26, 2026 at 9:01 am
Ok, correction: disgruntled ex-administration member takes to student newspaper to air grievances.
Make it stop • Feb 21, 2026 at 6:00 am
No wonder she left if she introduced “academically-focused storytelling.” This has been a challenge for this administration. It pains me to see how the marketing of the college has fundamentally changed in the last several years. And, as someone who has been in a leadership position in my professional life for a great deal of time, I will simply observe that successful leaders don’t desperately self-promote. Why would the president feel the need to publicly call attention to her contract extension? That reads symptomatically as failure rather than success. This sort of behavior should embarrass the board of trustees. I guess the question is whether there is anyone on the board who might be able to muster some sembaknce of moral courage or integrity to finally put a stop to this president’s cringe-worthy behavior. This is a top ranked engineering school and liberal arts college. It is a gem in the higher ed landscape. Why can’t the board find executive leadership that matches rather than diminishes that reputation?
Puzzled • Feb 20, 2026 at 8:35 pm
“the strength and steadiness the college is experiencing.” Nicole Hurd appears to live in some alternative universe.