Comings and Goings …
Michael B. Alexander
Lasell University President Michael B. Alexander announced he will step down at the end of the 2023 academic year after 16 years leading the Newton, Mass. college-turned-university. Alexander is also the CEO of Lasell Village, a model senior living community located on the school’s Newton campus. A NEBHE delegate, he is the founder of the Lower Cost Models for Independent Colleges Consortium, which now includes 130 colleges across the country. He has forged partnerships with Newton Wellesley Hospital and Encore Boston Resort and Casino to expand academic offerings and create internship and career opportunities for students and alumni. NEJHE featured a Q&A with Alexander in 2018 on his plans to challenge the higher education business model.
Bowdoin College appointed Daniel Olds as its vice president for alumni relations, starting Aug. 15. Most recently associate vice president for development at North Carolina’s Queens University of Charlotte. Olds previously served as assistant vice president of advancement strategy and operations at Colby College. He also held various roles with the Council on International Educational Exchange, most recently as director of alumni and constituent relations.
Stonehill College appointed Stanley Thangaraj as the inaugural James E. Hayden Chair for the Study of Race, Ethnicity and Social Justice. Thangaraj joins Stonehill from the City College of New York, where he was an associate professor of anthropology, gender studies and international studies and chaired the college’s Faculty Senate Diversity Committee. His 2015 book, Desi Hoop Dreams: Pickup Basketball and the Making of Asian American Masculinity, investigates how South Asian American men express their identities and cultivate a sense of belonging in the U.S. through sports.
Northern Essex Community College named Francellis Quiñones, formerly of the Unity Teen Equity Center in Lowell, Mass., as the community college’s first chief officer of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion.
Passings …
Louise S. Berry, Connecticut’s longest-serving school superintendent and a former state senator, died at age 94. A recipient of NEBHE’s David C. Knapp Award for Trusteeship in 2012, Berry was appointed to the state’s Board of Trustees for Community Colleges in 1991 and became its chair in 2004. She served on the board of the University of Connecticut and, with her husband, was instrumental in the founding of Quinebaug Valley Community College in Danielson, Conn.
College and university finance expert David Proulx died at age 52. Recently senior vice president of finance and administration and interim president at Rhode Island School of Design, Proulx was set to begin next month as Bryant University’s vice president for business affairs and CFO.
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