Posts Categorized: People

Season’s Meetings: A Few Coming Events in New England Higher Ed and Beyond

Economist Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, will deliver the next Shepard Lee lecture on "Full Employment: A Better Bargain for Working People" on Monday, Dec. 1 at 6 p.m. at Portland Public Library’s Rines Auditorium. The University of Massachusetts Cybersecurity Taskforce will meet with corporate leaders at a national cybersecurity event on "Educating...

New Presidents at Middlebury, Bridgewater State U; Strong Women Group

Laurie Patton Comings and Goings ... Middlebury College Trustees named Laurie L. Patton, dean of Duke University’s Trinity College of Arts and Sciences and the Robert F. Durden Professor of Religion, as Middlebury’s next president, effective in July. She will succeed Ronald D. Liebowitz, who has beens president since July 2004. Bridgewater State University’s Board of Trustees ...

New England Midterms Roundup

State Capital Notes ... The midterm elections brought New England two new governors. Rhode Island elected its first woman governor, Democrat Gina Raimondo. Massachusetts elected Republican Charlie Baker, a former Harvard Pilgrim CEO and official in the Weld and Cellucci administrations, including a time as secretary of administration and finance. The other four New England states reelected incumb...

Mass Higher Ed Commish to Step Down; Reid to Leave Saint Joseph Presidency

Comings and Goings ... Massachusetts Higher Education Commissioner Richard M. Freeland told the state Board of Higher Education that he will leave his post at the end of the 2014–15 academic year. Freeland has been a member of NEBHE's board since his appointment as Massachusetts chancellor in 2009. As chancellor and in his previous role as president of Northeastern University, Freeland wr...

New England Higher Ed Group to Honor Head of New England Council Among Annual Excellence Awardees

New England Council President James T. Brett will be among luminaries recognized by the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) in March 2015 at the regional organization's 13th annual New England Higher Education Excellence Awards. Each year, NEBHE presents Regional Excellence Awards to individuals and organizations that have shown exceptional leadership on behalf of higher education and th...

Underemployed? Key Labor Market Think Tank at Northeastern Shuts Down

The influential Northeastern University think tank that authored several NEJHE articles in recent decades ended it operations this month. The closing of the Center for Labor Market Studies follows the retirement last summer of its director Andrew Sum, who had launched the center in 1979 with a U.S. Department of Labor grant. In 2011, Paul Harrington, who co-directed the center from 1980 to 2010, ...

Spaulding to Lead Vermont State Colleges

Comings and Goings ... Vermont Secretary of Administration Jeb Spaulding was named the next chancellor of the Vermont State Colleges, replacing chancellor Tim Donovan who will retire at the end of this year. Before joining the governor's staff in 2011, Spaulding spent 16 years in the Vermont State Senate and eight as state treasurer. He founded Montpelier's WNCS-FM in 1976 and served as the stati...

Big Fall Changes: Suffolk Appoints Turnaround Leader; Another Prez to Leave UMaine System; Burlington College Chief Resigns; Conn. Ed Commish Who Battled Unions Out

Comings and Goings ... Suffolk University named Norman R. Smith interim president, beginning Sept. 1, replacing James McCarthy. Described as a turnaround expert at Wagner College in New York City, Smith is a member of the Registry for College and University Presidents—a service that matches veteran education leaders to interim positions, where they are viewed as freer to make unpopular...

MCLA’s Grant Named Chancellor at UNC Asheville; UMA’s Handley to Nat’l U

Mary Grant Comings and Goings ... The University of North Carolina Board chose Mary K. Grant to be chancellor of UNC Asheville, the state's public liberal arts university, effective Jan. 5, 2015. Grant, the president of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts since 2002 and recipient of NEBHE's 2014 Massachusetts State Merit Award, will succeed Anne Ponder who served as UNC Asheville chancellor fo...

USM Taps Power-ful Prez; Former NEBHE Delegate Coderre Appointed to HHS; Sloan-C Gets New Name, CEO

Comings and Goings ... The University of Maine System name former Central Maine Power President David T. Flanagan to be president of the University of Southern Maine. In addition to leading the utility's response to Maine's 1998 Ice Storm, Flanagan served previously as assistant Maine attorney general and as chief legal counsel to Maine Gov. Joseph Brennan. Former NEBHE delegate Tom Coderre ...