Cornell President Martha E. Pollack has announced she will retire on June 30 after leading the New York university for seven years. Pollack’s departure marks the third Ivy League leader to step down amid political turbulence in recent months.
“There are few roles that afford so much opportunity to make a positive difference in the world,” Pollack, a computer scientist and expert in artificial intelligence, said of her tenure in an announcement posted to the university’s website last week. Provost Michael I. Kotlikoff will serve as interim president under a two-year contract.
During Pollack’s presidency, the university created the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy and launched new programs in sustainability, digital agriculture, artificial intelligence and design, among other areas. Pollack is also credited with increasing by 1,000 the number of undergraduates receiving grant-based financial aid, the university noted.
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In Pennsylvania, Albright College President Jacquelyn Fetrow has announced her resignation, effective May 31, after leading the small institution since 2017, WFMZ-TV reported.
Who’s hiring?
Elsewhere across higher education, there has been a minor hiring surge of colleges and universities filling vacancies at the top. The University of New Hampshire has chosen Elizabeth S. Chilton, the chancellor of Washington State University’s Pullman campus, as its 21st president. Chilton also served as Washington State’s provost and executive vice president and was previously dean of the Harpur College of Arts and Sciences at Binghamton University in New York. She also spent 16 years at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire has hired Landmark College President Peter A. Eden to serve as its next leader. Eden oversaw the doubling of the Vermont institution’s endowment and the introduction of new degree programs and a graduate-level online certificate program for Landmark’s college-capable students with learning differences. He was also instrumental in creating LC Online, a national educational platform.
Susan D. Stuebner, president of Colby-Sawyer College, is relocating to become the 21st president of Marietta College in Ohio. Stuebner, who has also been an administrator at Allegheny College and Lycoming College, has specialized in student retention, admission, academic advising and student support. Interim president Susan C. Aldridge has been promoted to the permanent position at Thomas Jefferson University, a research institution in Philadelphia. The first female president of the university, she previously served as president of Drexel University Online and University of Maryland Global Campus.
In another promotion, Robert J. Nemer, dean of the University of Akron College of Business, was appointed as the institution’s next president, replacing Gary L. Miller, who will formally retire later this year. The university credits Nemer for increasing enrollment at the business school despite nationwide declines.
Karim Ismaili, the executive vice president and provost at Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts, has been appointed the next president of Eastern Connecticut State University and will begin his new role on July 31. At Bridgewater State University, Ismaili, a first-generation college student, helped launch workforce-driven degree programs and built academic pathways with public and private higher educational institutions.
At the two-year level, Jessica Pace has been named sole finalist to become the 11th president and first female to lead Panola College in Texas. A former Panola student, she has served as the college’s vice president of institutional advancement since 2014. Anthony Cruz, former president of the Kendall Campus of Miami Dade College in Florida, has been selected as the 11th president of Milwaukee Area Technical College.
More new hires
- Patrick Cate, Lakes Region Community College (New Hampshire)
- Jonathan Fuentes, Clovis Community College (New Mexico)
- Matt Gianneschi, Colorado Mountain College
- Bryan Newton, Glen Oaks Community College (Michigan)
- Kirk Young, Western Wyoming Community College
