Presidential Stirrings, Plus
Posted June 8, 2022
By John O. Harney
Comings and Goings …
KENNETH ELMORE
Dean College named Boston University Associate Provost and Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore to be its 14th president, succeeding Paula Rooney, who announced her retirement in October after leading the Franklin, Mass. college for 27 years. Echoing an increasingly popular dual leadership strategy, Dean named former Worcester City Manager Edward Augustus to be its first-ever chancellor, responsible for business development, alumni and community relations, facilities, technology and strategic planning, while Elmore focuses on academic affairs, student life, enrollment and retention.
Michael A. Elliott, a professor of English and dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Emory University, was named the 20th president of Amherst College, his alma mater, effective Aug. 1. He will succeed Biddy Martin, who announced last year she would finish her term in 2022.
University of Massachusetts Amherst Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy announced he will retire in June 2023 after 10 years leading the flagship campus.
Under his leadership, UMass Amherst saw a 30% increase in first-year undergraduate applications over the past 10 years, an increase in it six-year graduation rate to 84% and growth in student diversity, with 37% of this past year’s entering class being students of color, up from 21% a decade earlier.
Subbaswamy, a physicist, joined UMass from the University of Kentucky faculty.
Goodwin University President Mark Scheinberg will leave that post as well as his role as a trustee of the University of Bridgeport (which Goodwin acquired in 2021) and the presidencies of the for-profit Stone Academy and the Paier College of Art as the result of a U.S. Justice Department settlement over his payments to loan servicers to prevent students from falling into default and raising the college’s cohort default rate, which is sometimes seen as a way to judge whether a college’s value allows a graduate to repay their loans.
A NEBHE delegate since 2018, Scheinberg has also chaired the Hartford Consortium for Higher Education and served on the Executive Board of the Connecticut Council of Independent Colleges.
James B. Thelen, vice chancellor for strategic initiatives and chief legal officer of the University of Maine System, resigned, citing personal stress.
University of Connecticut Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Carl Lejuez was appointed executive vice president and provost at New York’s Stony Brook University.
Kristen Porter-Utley, dean of the Bartlett College of Science and Mathematics at Bridgewater State University, was named provost and vice president for academic affairs at Framingham State University, effective Aug. 1. Before joining Bridgewater State, she spent 12 years at Keene State College in posts such as assistant dean of sciences, chair of the biology department, and assistant tenured associate and full professor of biology.
Jody Carson was named the new dean of business and professional studies at Northern Essex Community College, where she earned an associate degree as a first-generation college student.
Carson then on went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Lesley University and a master’s from Southern New Hampshire University. Carson became an adjunct faculty member at Northern Essex in 2007 and, in 2013, joined the Textbook Task Force to bring open educational resources (OER)—free, openly licensed educational materials—to the college.
Kim Janey, the first woman and first person of color to serve as mayor of Boston, began work as president and CEO of Economic Mobility Pathways, the Boston nonprofit group that works to help low-income families move up the economic ladder and helped Janey when she was a young mother in Boston striving to finish high school.
The Boston Public Schools tapped Jason Gallagher, an elementary school principal in the city’s Charlestown neighborhood, to lead Boston Latin School, America’s oldest school. A graduate of the school, he will replace Rachel Skerritt, who in 2017 became the first person of color to lead the esteemed exam school.