Valerie Roberson
Comings and Goings …
Roxbury Community College (RCC) President Valerie Roberson announced she will still step down from the post she has held since 2013. Though some Boston media outlets alleged mismanagement, others hailed Roberson for getting RCC removed from the Massachusetts Department of Education Heightened Cash Monitoring list and overseeing the relaunch of the Roxbury Community College Foundation and workforce-readiness programs such as the Center for Smart Building Technology. During the pandemic, Roberson oversaw a transition from in-person to remote classes and launched the RoxSTARS program to connect students with laptops and hotspots at no extra cost.
Castleton University Interim President Jonathan Spiro announced he will step down in January 2022. Spiro has worked at Castleton for nearly 20 years as a faculty member, administrator and, since May 2020, as interim president. Castleton Provost Thomas Mauhs-Pugh, a former faculty member and administrator at Green Mountain College, will succeed Spiro as Castleton’s interim leader as the school prepares to become part of a singly accredited Vermont State University in 2023.
The College of the Holy Cross named Tomicka Wagstaff, who is currently assistant vice president for student access and success at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, to be the Worcester, Mass. Catholic college’s new vice provost for diversity, equity and inclusion. She will succeed Amit Taneja, who left Holy Cross earlier this year to work at Chautauqua Institution, also in New York.
Bentley University appointed Sanjay Putrevu, who has served as dean and professor of Monte Ahuja College of Business at Cleveland State University, to be the Waltham, Mass. university’s next dean of business. Putrevu will also hold the Robert and Julia Dorn Research Professorship at Bentley.
Lasell University named Derek Pinto as vice president for finance and administration. He will serve as CFO for both Lasell and Lasell Village, the senior living residence that is part of the Newton, Mass. school’s intergenerational campus. A former classroom teacher, Pinto joins Lasell from Laney College, a community college in Oakland, Calif., where he was vice president of administrative services.
Sheila M. Harrity, superintendent of Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School in Fitchburg, Mass., and vice chair of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education, was tapped to lead an initiative run by the Massachusetts Association of Vocational Administrators in collaboration with Fitchburg State and Westfield State universities to help vocational teachers and administrators earn their professional licenses and college degrees.
Husson University announced that Vice President of Finance and Administration and Treasurer Craig Hadley will retire at the end of 2021 after more than 13 years at the Bangor, Maine university.
The Trustees of Reservations named Appalachian Mountain Club CEO John Judge to be president and CEO of the Trustees, the largest preservation and conservation nonprofit in Massachusetts.
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