“We’re moving ahead on all fronts,” she said, citing extensive planning for the arrival of new fellows and programming for the upcoming year as particularly pressing issues.

Although she acknowledged the difficulty of attracting talented national and international fellows for the Institute, Richardson said she is not daunted by the task.

“I really mean it when I say I don’t think in terms of problems,” she said, “I think of opportunities and challenges.”

According to Richardson, Radcliffe’s reputation will rise or fall based on the quality of research produced by the Institute in the coming years. She said she is optimistic that Radcliffe will attract “enormously productive, innovative scholars.”

But for Richardson, productivity and innovation are only the beginning—steps on the way to what she described as Radcliffe’s evolution into “the best center for advanced study in the world, bar none.”

In addition to teaching several popular courses in the government department, Richardson was also the Head Tutor for six years and received several teaching awards from students and faculty, including the Levenson Award from the Undergraduate Council—the highest teaching award from the student body.

At Radcliffe, though, she will leave teaching behind—at least for the time being.