Claims of Life

Diana Chapman Walsh is President Emerita of Wellesley College and an emerita member of the governing boards of MIT and Amherst College. She was a trustee of the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and the Mind and Life Institute, and also chaired the Broad Institute’s inaugural board and cofounded the Council on the Uncertain Human Future. She is the author, coauthor, and editor of numerous books, including Corporate Physicians: Between Medicine and Management.

Included on Forbes's the Best Higher Education Books For 2023"Diana Chapman-Walsh, President Emerita of Wellesley College, has written an uplifting memoir, entitled The Claims of Life. Warm, tender, and honest, it’s a book as much about living a meaningful live as it is being an effective college president. Walsh, who was Wellesley’s president from 1993 to 2007, enjoyed a very successful career at her alma mater (a 1966 graduate, majoring in English), after several earlier positions, including academic posts at Boston University, where she earned her MS and PhD, and Harvard. From beginning at Wellesley with the “belief that I wasn’t smart enough, that I had to work especially hard to hold my own,” through a series of leadership opportunities and challenges, all shared with Chris, her (recently deceased) husband of 57 years, Walsh learned five lessons for being a trustworthy leader - question yourself, establish partnerships, resist the use of force when in power, value differences, and cultivate communities of self-support."—Forbes“As someone who thinks deeply about lessons, Walsh believes self-discovery is an essential outgrowth of leadership. This memoir reveals her authenticity. Consider her book cover—she is pictured against a Wellesley blue background in her alumnae parade whites, walking across campus, turning to smile at whoever has called to her. This is a leader who values human connections, and it shows. No wonder she produced such a beautiful book.”—The Wellesly Magazine“Diana has become an icon in educational leadership, and advocates that education can be both an intellectual and a spiritual journey.”—Mind & Life podcast

• A Note on Sources and Naming ix1 We Two Form a Multitude 12 The New York Years 173 A Writing Stick 294 I Get on with My Life 435 How I Became a College President 716 Through the Looking Glass 997 From the Inside Out 1138 The Permanent People 1299 The Inbox Exercise 14510 Two Leaders, Two Tightropes 16111 The Student Shadow 17512 Turn of the Millennium 18913 Out of the Blue 20114 Tests of Leadership 22315 To Hold in Trust 24516 The Tin Cup 25917 How to Leave a Job You Love 27718 What Matters in the End 29319 A Life in Dialogue 309Appendix: Trustworthy Leadership 333Epilogue 337Index 341