Joanne Berger-Sweeney

In April 2019, professor of sociology Johnny Eric Williams tweeted "whiteness is terrorism," drawing criticism from alumni and others. Berger-Sweeney released statements affirming Trinity College's support for "academic freedom and free expression and inquiry."

Trinity students confronted Berger-Sweeney at a midday event on May 2, 2019, over the decision to approve the Churchill Club, a conservative student organization. Gregory B. Smith, professor of political science, had founded the club at Trinity College. The Churchill Club describes itself as being "dedicated to the preservation, dissemination and extension of the Western moral and philosophical tradition." Smith called African-American, Asian-American, Latino, Muslim and Jewish culture houses on campus “tribal enclaves,” which drew criticism.

The same professor had been suspended in 2017 after he used "#LetThemFuckingDie" on a Facebook post. Conservative media argued that the hashtag was in response to a post about the Republican Congressional baseball practice shooting, in which Steve Scalise was shot. Williams stated that the posts were not a call for violence against white people.

In responses to threats after the 2017 incident, Berger-Sweeney shut down campus and initiated an investigation of Williams. Prior to the campus shutdown, Berger-Sweeney wrote in an email to campus that a "call to show indifference to the lives of bigots" when their lives are endangered is "reprehensible, and any such suggestion is abhorrent." Although Williams was suspended, he was eventually cleared in an investigation that concluded conservative media misinterpreted his posts.

On October 26, 2014, she became the first woman and the first African American to lead Trinity College (Connecticut). In 2018, the college renewed her contract through 2024. Berger-Sweeney has overseen several important initiatives at Trinity, including a new strategic plan that will guide the college through 2023; a new mentoring program for incoming students (the Bantam Network); a new campus initiative to promote respect and inclusion; and an expansion into downtown Hartford.

In 2010, Berger-Sweeney became Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Tufts University, where she served until 2014, during which time she strengthened the school's faculty and interdisciplinary programs. She helped create the Center for Race and Democracy at Tufts, which studies the impact of race on individuals' lives. She also led the creation of the Bridge to Liberal Arts Success at Tufts (BLAST) program that supports college students from underserved high schools.

Berger-Sweeney returned to Wellesley in 1991 to teach and conduct research. She was the first African-American woman at Wellesley to become a full professor and was named the Allene Lummis Russell Professor in Neuroscience. During her tenure at Wellesley, she served as director of the neuroscience program and as associate dean of the college.

Berger-Sweeney received her PhD in 1989. She completed her postdoctoral training at the National Institute of Health (Inserm) in Paris, France.

Berger-Sweeney attended Wellesley College, where she earned an undergraduate degree in psychobiology (neuroscience) in 1979. She received a Masters of Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley in 1981. Berger-Sweeney completed her doctoral work in neurotoxicology with Joseph T. Coyle at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 1989. Berger-Sweeney did proof-of-concept work on galantamine (brand name Razadyne), showing that the drug reversed memory deficits in mice. Her work served as the foundation for clinical trials by Janssen Pharmaceutica, culminating in the drug's approval by the FDA. Galantamine is the second-most-used Alzheimer's drug in the world.

Joanne E. Berger-Sweeney (born September 21, 1958) is an American neuroscientist and the 22nd president of Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut. She is the first African-American and the first woman to serve in the position. Earlier in her career, Berger-Sweeney did proof-of-concept work on galantamine (brand name Razadyne), the second-most used drug to treat Alzheimer's disease.

Berger-Sweeney was born on September 21, 1958, in Los Angeles. Her parents met at Clark College. Her father earned his law degree at Howard University, finishing second in his class. Her mother was executive director of the Los Angeles Girl Scouts Council and was the first African-American woman to lead a Girl Scouts Council in a major metropolitan area.