RI College’s Sánchez, Dean College’s Rooney Announce Final Years of Presidencies
Posted January 11, 2022
By John O. Harney
Comings and Goings …
Frank D. Sánchez
Rhode Island College (RIC) President Frank D. Sánchez announced he will step down after his contract expires on June 30. Appointed to lead the four-year college in 2016, Sánchez said he was most proud of reducing out-of-pocket expenses with such moves as putting more textbooks online and reducing the price of public transit passes used by many students at the colleges, where 85% of students are commuters. Sánchez has been a NEBHE delegate since 2018.
Dean College President Paula M. Rooney announced that she will leave office at the end of the 2021-22 academic year, following 27 years as president of the independent college based in Franklin, Mass. Under Rooney’s leadership, Dean introduced bachelor’s degree programs, which now account for 93% of the college’s 1,121 students. Rooney has also played a high-profile regional role as co-chair of the New England Council’s Higher Education Committee with NEBHE delegate Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Rhode Island President Daniel Egan.
The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University named artist and art historian Margaret Rose Vendryes as its next dean. She is currently a professor in the Department of Performing and Fine Arts and Director of the Fine Arts Gallery at York College at the City University of New York (CUNY).
New England Law | Boston selected Associate Dean Lisa R. Freudenheim as the law school’s next dean. Freudenheim served as co-acting dean for the fall 2021 semester and has been a member of the New England Law faculty for more than 10 years, teaching legal analysis and academic excellence. She has also taught at Suffolk University Law School, Boston College Law School and Brandeis University.
She will succeed former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, who resigned as president and dean of the faculty of New England Law last August after less than a year at the helm.
Rear Admiral (retired) Michael White, dean of the College of Maritime Operational Warfare at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, R.I., was named the next president of Northeastern Junior College in the Colorado Community College System, succeeding Jay Lee who is retiring.
Campus Compact appointed Towson University Associate Vice President for Outreach Bobbie Laur as the next president of the national organization. Founded in 1985, Campus Compact’s activities include advancing community-based learning and partnerships, advocating for the public mission of higher education and serving as a platform for collaboration among organizations and institutions focused on advancing civic and community engagement. Laur will lead the organization’s nationally distributed staff from the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area.
Passings …
Harvard Law School professor Lani Guinier, who became famous when conservatives in Congress sank her nomination to lead the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, died at age 71 of complications from Alzheimer’s disease.