New England Board of Higher Education » College of the Atlantic

Workforce Expert Tucker, Former Prez Candidate Hart, Vt. Sen. Sanders Among Upcoming Speakers on NE Campuses

John O. Harney — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 14:04:53 +0000

Marc Tucker, president and CEO of the National Center on Education, will speak on “What It Will Take for the United States to Match the Performance of the Nations with the Best Education Systems," at College of the Atlantic's Deering Common Campus Center on Friday, April 5 at 3 p.m.

****

Dan Gillmor, an international expert on citizen journalism and new media and columnist for The Guardian, will speak at Champlain College's Alumni Auditorium Monday, April 8, at 7:30 p.m.

****

Former U.S. Sen. Gary Hart (D-Colo.) will keynote Salve Regina University's Story in the Public Square, a daylong gathering of journalists, novelists, filmmakers and others to be held Friday, April 12 on the Salve campus. ($20 fee waived for Salve students and staff.)

****

Progressive radio and television talk show host Thom Hartmann, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and key radio journalists will celebrate the 40th anniversary of community radio at WGDR Studios, Goddard College Community Radio on the night of Saturday, May 17.

Gov. Malloy, Sen. Kerry, Victoria Reggie Kennedy Among Newly Announced NE Commencement Speakers

John O. Harney — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 17:28:48 +0000

American writer, commentator and bioethicist Ruth Levy Guyer will keynote Southern Vermont College's 85th commencement on Saturday, May 12. Working as a consultant for the President's Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, Guyer is developing a guide for the commission's recent report on unethical experiments conducted by U.S. Public Health Service researchers in Guatemala after World War II.

Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy will address graduates of Saint Joseph College on Sunday, May 13, at 10 a.m. under the tent on the college’s West Hartford campus. The youngest of eight children, Malloy holds a law degree from Boston College Law School. He became a prosecutor in Brooklyn, N.Y., served as an assistant district attorney, then was Stamford's longest-serving mayor from 1995 to 2009, before being elected governor in 2010.

Wesleyan University President Michael S. Roth will keynote Eastern Connecticut State University’s 122nd commencement exercises on May 15, at 6:30 p.m., at the XL Center in Hartford.

Salem State University announced that Molly Baldwin, founder of Roca Inc., which helps disengaged and disenfranchised young people move out of violence and poverty, will address graduate commencement ceremonies on Thursday, May 17, at 4 p.m. Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo will address bachelor’s degree recipients on Saturday, May 19, at 10 a.m.

U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) will deliver the Mount Ida College commencement address on Friday, May 18, at 11 a.m., on the Mount Ida campus.

Victoria Reggie Kennedy, wife of the late U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, lawyer and advocate for issues that affect women, children and families, will address Anna Maria College graduates on Saturday, May 19, at 10 a.m., at The Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts.

Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress Jane Lynch will address Smith College’s 134th commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 20, at 10 a.m., in the campus Quadrangle.

Author Azar Nafisi will deliver the keynote at Mount Holyoke College's 175th commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 20.

National Public Radio correspondent Robert Krulwich, the co-host of Radiolab, will keynote College of the Atlantic’s 40th commencement on Saturday, June 2 Eighty-five students are expected to receive diplomas in COA’s one major, Human Ecology.

Chinese architect and professor Wang Shu will deliver the keynote Rhode Island School of Design’s 2012 commencement on Saturday, June 2, at 1:30 p.m., at the Rhode Island Convention Center in downtown Providence.

****

See NE Colleges Announce Spring Commencement Speakers Even Before Winter Arrives (smtms in 140 chars max).

New Chiefs of NH Community Colleges, Connecticut Regents, COA, Maine Think Tank

John O. Harney — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 14:44:16 +0000

J. Bonnie Newman, the former interim president of the University of New Hampshire, was named interim chancellor of the New Hampshire Community College System, succeeding Richard Gustafson, who is retiring as chancellor of the seven-campus system. Newman was executive dean of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, an assistant to President George H.W. Bush, president of the Business and Industry Association and the New England Council. When U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire accepted President Obama's offer to be his secretary of commerce in 2009, Newman was expected to fill Gregg's seat, until the senator changed his mind.

****

Robert Kennedy, who served for 11 years as president of the University of Maine, was named interim president of the Connecticut Board of Regents of Higher Education, a new system, which includes the four state universities, as well as the community college system and Charter Oak State College. Michael P. Meotti, the current interim president, will become executive vice president.

****

College of the Atlantic named Darron Collins as its next president. Currently director of creative assets at the World Wildlife Fund, Collins will become the first COA alumnus to head the college in Bar Harbor, Maine.

****

The Maine Center for Economic Policy (MECEP) selected Garrett Martin, MECEP's current associate director, as the organization's new executive director, to succeed Christopher St. John, who was the think tank's founding executive director. Before joining the MECEP staff in February 2009, Martin was director of Program Strategy at the Maine Community Foundation and associate director at the Genesis Community Loan Fund.

Spring Peepers: NE Campuses Begin Naming Speakers for Commencement

John O. Harney — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 20:04:16 +0000

It's happening again: New England colleges and universities are assembling the academics, business gurus, heads of state and, of course, celebs, who make the region's spring college commencements the world's best regional lecture series. Some stars of this year's commencement season so far (in order of appearance) ...

****

Marc A. Nivet, the chief diversity officer at the Association of American Medical Colleges who is known for his work to eliminate racial disparities in health care, will keynote MGH Institute's 31st commencement ceremony on Friday, May 13.

****

New York Times best-selling author Luanne Rice will speak at Saint Joseph College’s 76th commencement exercises on Sunday, May 15, at 10 a.m. under the tent on the south lawn of the college’s West Hartford campus.

****

U.S. Rep. Michael H. Michaud (D-Maine) will address the 2011 University of New England commencement exercises on Saturday, May 21, at 10 a.m. at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland.

****

Former tennis champion and women’s sports pioneer Billie Jean King will address the University of Vermont 2011 commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 22.

****

Actress Jane Alexander, former chair of the National Endowment of the Arts, will be College of the Atlantic’s commencement speaker for its 39th graduation exercises on Saturday, June 4.

UConn Names Female Leader; Two Green Champions Depart NE Presidencies

John O. Harney — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 21:15:01 +0000

The University of Connecticut appointed Susan Herbst as its first female president. Herbst was executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer at the University System of Georgia and, before that, acting president of the State University of New York at Albany. Her brother, Jeffrey Herbst, is president of Colgate University.

Meanwhile, New England will have to learn to live without two of America's greenest college presidents.

College of the Atlantic President David F. Hales, who announced he will step down after graduation in June, will go on extended leave beginning Jan. 1, 2011. The COA board named current Administrative Dean Andrew Griffiths as interim president.

Unity College President Mitchell Thomashow steps down as the ninth president on July 1, leaving the small environmental college in rural Unity, Maine, with a national niche as a champion of sustainability.

NE Campuses Wearing Green on 2011 College Sustainability Report Card

NEBHE Admin — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 03:59:58 +0000

The College Sustainability Report Card 2011 is out today, revealing the profiles of 322 schools and their sustainability policies. The fifth edition of the report by the Sustainable Endowments Institute assesses 52 indicators, ranging from green initiatives to recycling programs, and uses an A to F letter-grading system to evaluate different colleges and universities nationwide.

Some New England campuses made honor roll with A- grades, including Amherst College, Brown University, College of the Atlantic, Middlebury College, Smith College, University of New Hampshire, University of Vermont, Wesleyan University, Williams College, Yale University and Harvard University.

Others followed close behind with B+ grades, including Clark University, Colby College, Dartmouth College, MIT, Northeastern University and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

For more information, visit GreenReportCard.org.

As Leaves Change, So Do College Officials

Shoshana Akins — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 17:35:00 +0000

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.'"