URI Finds Next President Down Under, Plus More Big Appointments

Comings and Goings …

Parlange

The University of Rhode Island (URI) Board of Trustees chose Marc B. Parlange, currently provost and senior vice president of Monash University in Australia, as the Rhode Island flagship’s 12th president. He’ll succeed David M. Dooley, who joined URI in July 2009 and oversaw the university’s transformation into a leading research institution. Born in Providence, R.I., Parlange is an environmental expert who has held deanships at the University of British Columbia in Canada and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland, as well as research and teaching appointments at Johns Hopkins University and the University of California, Davis. Parlange’s appointment at URI is effective Aug. 1.

Nichols College named Bryant University Provost Glenn Sulmasy to be the next president of the Dudley, Mass. college, succeeding Susan West Engelkemeyer, who will retire at the end of the school year after a decade leading Nichols.

North Shore Community College (NSCC) tapped William Heineman, provost of nearby Northern Essex Community College in Haverhill and Lawrence, Mass., to be the next president of NSCC, which has campuses in Lynn, Danvers and Middleton, Mass.

The University of Massachusetts Amherst named attorney Kerri Thompson Tillett, recent associate vice president of the Division of Inclusive Excellence at the College of New Jersey, as its associate vice chancellor for equal opportunity.

Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) named three new vice presidents. Joseph DaSilva, who worked for 28 years at Springfield Technical Community College, most recently as VP of administration and CFO, was hired as vice president for administration and finance at  MCLA in North Adams, Mass. Richard Glejzer, the interim dean of graduate studies at Pennsylvania’s Muhlenberg College and former provost at Marlboro College during its work on the new Marlboro Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies at Emerson College, was named vice president for academic affairs at MCLA. Jeannette Smith, a scholar-practitioner in policy, equity, financial aid and student development who served as interim associate dean of student affairs and engagement at the Evergreen State College in Washington, was named vice president of student affairs.

Smith College appointed Lisa Howie, who is currently directs the Yale University Investments Office, to be the Northampton, Mass. college’s first chief investment officer.

U.S. Secretary of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, formerly education commissioner in Connecticut, named Nick Simmons to the role of senior advisor for school reopening and recovery at the federal level. Simmons was the point person for Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont’s effort to provide laptops and internet access to every student in Connecticut after schools shut down last year,

The progressive think tank Demos named Georgia Budget and Policy Institute CEO Taifa Smith Butler as it new president, succeeding former President K. Sabeel Rahman, who transitioned to the Biden administration. Butler is a first-generation college graduate and alumna of Mount Holyoke College and Carnegie Mellon University.