Peter Lunder is a Colby alumn and former president of Dexter Shoe ...]]>

The Colby College Museum of Art this now has surpassed the Portland Art Museum as Maine's largest art museum, thanks to a new $15 million Alfond-Lunder Family Pavilion that holds nearly 300 of the 500 works given to Colby by Peter and Paula Lunder.

Peter Lunder is a Colby alumn and former president of Dexter Shoe Company, which was founded by his uncle Harold Alfond. Lunder and his wife's collection includes works by American masters such as Georgia O'Keeffe, John Singer Sargent, Winslow Homer, Sol LeWitt, and Edward Hopper.

The Lunders told the Boston Globe that they favored the Colby museum because visitors will actually see the artwork, rather than having it hidden in storage in a larger museum. Under the agreement, the pavilion will feature only the Lunders' donated works for a year, then add other pieces from the museum's 8,000-piece collection.

Despite the recent impulse among reformers to get higher ed out of investment in things that don't fit neatly into teaching (like art?), New England is home to nearly 100 college-affiliated museums, many at private colleges from Dartmouth College’s acclaimed Hood Museum of Art to the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University.

In 2009, the worldwide financial crisis threatened some campus art museums, including the Rose. Brandeis had announced it would close the museum that opened in 1961 and auction off portions of its $350 million collection, as part of a plan to meet general university financial needs. The news was greeted with a storm of protests. On the university’s own Rose webpage, three alumni who are museum professionals charged that the university’s “statements reveal a fundamental misunderstanding of the crucial role of art and art museums, not only at Brandeis but at colleges and universities throughout the country.” The Rose was saved. But skepticism remains in an age of reexamination of higher education "business models."

College of the Atlantic President David F. Hales announced he will retire at the end of the academic year. During his tenure, the college became a carbon-neutral institution, expanded its faculty and diversified its academic programs. A search for a new president is underway for the 2011-12 academic year.

Suffolk University President David Sargent, whose ...]]>

College of the Atlantic President David F. Hales announced he will retire at the end of the academic year. During his tenure, the college became a carbon-neutral institution, expanded its faculty and diversified its academic programs. A search for a new president is underway for the 2011-12 academic year.

Suffolk University President David Sargent, whose high pay captured regional and national headlines, announced his immediate retirement after a special board meeting held Oct. 20.

Former Massachusetts state representative, champion of the state's Education Reform Act, and lead sponsor for its Gay Rights Bill, Mark Roosevelt will become president of Antioch College of Ohio.

Roger Williams University has not yet found a permanent president after the sudden resignation of its eighth president Roy Nirschel. An interim president has been named but the university is still looking for applicants.

Harvard University announced its newest vice president for capital planning and project management, Mark R. Johnson. Harvard says Johnson, with more than 20 years of experience in construction and architectural design, will be able to "balance the nature of academia with the practicalities of planning and budgets."

Boston University Provost David Campbell will be replaced by the University of Southern California's Jean Morrison at the end of the semester. Morrison, who is currently USC's executive vice provost for academic affairs and graduate programs, will succeed Campbell as BU's chief academic officer, overseeing educational and budget policies for the university's 14 schools and colleges.

The Connecticut State University System has experienced a slew of managerial rearrangements since  the departure of Southern Connecticut State University President Cheryl J. Norton, the state attorney general's recent assertion of the board's misguided delegation of responsibility in this matter, and last month's surprise announcement by the chancellor of system Chancellor David Carter that he will retire next September.

The Chronicle of Higher Education noted that questions have been raised about whether the state system needs a major overhaul. (As former Quinebaug Valley Community College President Robert Miller wrote in NEJHE in Summer 1991 when the journal was called Connection: "The slogan that Connecticut seems to have embraced over the years as it contemplates the future of its higher education system is: 'If in doubt, reorganize.'"

Related Posts: Campus Comings and Goings as Fall 2010 Approaches

Brandeis University trustees named George Washington University Law School dean Frederick M. Lawrence to succeed Jehuda Reinharz as Brandeis president, beginning after Jan. 1, 2011. Lawrence became dean of the GWU Law School in 2005, after nearly two decades teaching at the Boston University School of Law.

University of Connecticut trustees appointed Philip E. ...]]>

Brandeis University trustees named George Washington University Law School dean Frederick M. Lawrence to succeed Jehuda Reinharz as Brandeis president, beginning after Jan. 1, 2011. Lawrence became dean of the GWU Law School in 2005, after nearly two decades teaching at the Boston University School of Law.

University of Connecticut trustees appointed Philip E. Austin to serve as interim president of the university where he oversaw major growth as president from 1996 to 2007, including shepherding the $1 billion infrastructure improvement and private incentive program known as UConn 2000.

Jo Ann Rooney, former president of Spalding University in Kentucky, took the reins of Mount Ida College after the college's nine-month search to fill the position.

Debra Townsley, president of Nichols College was  named the new president of Peace College in Raleigh, N.C.

Boston College Law School dean John H. Garvey was appointed president of Catholic University of America—the D.C. college's first lay leader.