Posts Categorized: News

A Third Karam to Chair UMass Trustees

Comings and Goings ... Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker appointed Stephen Karam, principal of the Fall River, Mass. benefit consulting group Karam Associates, to chair the University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees. He succeeds Robert Manning, who served as chair for the past seven years. Karam’s father, Robert Karam, and uncle, James Karam, both previously served as board chairs for the...

UConn Calls It Permanent for Interim Prez

Comings and Goings ... Radenka Maric, who has been interim president of the University of Connecticut since February, was named the 17th president of the state’s flagship land-grant institution. Formerly UConn’s vice president for research, innovation and entrepreneurship, Maric succeeded former interim president Andrew Agwunobi. Maric becomes the second woman president of the universit...

Noted Higher Ed Policy Advocates Terry Hartle, Sally M. Johnstone to Retire

Comings and Goings ... Terry Hartle, senior vice president for government relations and public affairs at the American Council on Education (ACE) since 1993, announced he will retire at the end of this year. Before joining the higher education lobbying group, Hartle was a key aide to the late U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resourc...

Proposed LOAN Act Would Double Pell and Improve Public Service Loan Forgiveness, Plus New Report Shows Gaps for Black Community College Students

DC Shuttle ... Lowering Obstacles to Achievement Now (LOAN) Act. U.S. Reps. Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Frederica Wilson (D-FL) introduced the Lowering Obstacles to Achievement Now (LOAN) Act “to lower the cost of college for current and future student borrowers and their families.” This proposed legislation would double the Pell Grant, improve the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and mak...

Smith College Names Swarthmore Provost as Its Next Leader

Comings and Goings ... Smith College selected Swarthmore College Provost and Dean of the Faculty Sarah Willie-LeBreton to be the 12th president of the Seven Sisters and Five Colleges institution in Northampton, Mass. She'll succeed Kathleen McCartney, who announced that she will step down in 2023. A sociologist, Willie-LeBreton studies social inequality and race and ethnicity. As Swarthmore...

Big Changes at New England’s Biggest University

Comings and Goings ... In a stream of high-profile changes at the largest higher education institution in New England (if you don't count the heavily online Southern New Hampshire University), Boston University (BU) President Robert A. Brown announced he will step down at the end of the academic year after 17 years in charge. The university also reported that Pulitzer Prize-winning Boston Glo...

A Royal Goodbye

Comings and Goings ... Holyoke Community College (HCC) President Christina Royal announced she will retire from the college at the end of the 2022-23 academic year, after serving as the first woman, first openly gay and first biracial leader of the 75-year-old institution, the oldest two-year college in Massachusetts. Before joining HCC in 2017, Royal was provost and vice president of academic ...

Esposito Scores on the Rebound at CSCU System

Comings and Goings ... Nicole Esposito returned to her post as CEO of Manchester Community College after successfully suing the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system for gender discrimination. Named to the job in 2020, Esposito clashed with Rob Steinmetz, who served in the system's since-discontinued role of Capital Region East president, according to a report in Inside Higher ...

At University Modeling Innovative Dual Leadership, Key Piece to Step Down

Comings and Goings ... Steve Kaplan, who has led the University of New Haven for nearly 20 years as president, then chancellor and CEO, told the university community that he will retire in June 2023, a year earlier than expected. In February, the university promoted an “innovative presidential transition plan” in which Kaplan moved from president to chancellor, while Sheahon...

Setti Warren to Lead Harvard IOP as Interim, While Gearan Heads Back to Geneva

Comings and Goings ... Harvard Institute of Politics Director Mark D. Gearan announced he will step down after more than four years to become president of Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, N.Y., a post he earlier held from from 1999 to 2017. Setti D. Warren, the institute's executive director, will serve as its interim director, while the Harvard Kennedy School searches for a new lon...