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Community College of Rhode Island
College welcomes new president
President Ray Di Pasquale tells Currents staff about the experience he brings to the college, his feelings about his new home in the Ocean State, and his vision for the future of CCRI
PROFILE
Ray Di Pasquale
President
Community College of Rhode Island
Background: President Di Pasquale, who began his duties at CCRI on January 16, came to the college from the SUNY College at Brockport, N.Y. where he had been vice president for enrollment management and student affairs, a division that includes admissions, financial aid, student services and retention as well as such diverse programs as Upward Bound, Equal Educational Opportunity, intercollegiate athletics and judicial affairs. During the past year, he also served as interim vice president for institutional advancement. Prior to his service at SUNY Brockport, Di Pasquale served for nearly 20 years at Springfield Technical Community College, the last six of which were as vice president for enrollment management and student affairs. He also spent five years as assistant director of admissions and director of athletics at Middlesex Community College in Bedford, Mass. Di Pasquale also has had an exemplary career in public service, having served as an elected member of the Springfield, Mass. City Council and School Committee.
Education: Arkansas Tech University, B.S. degree; Northeastern University, M.S. degree.
Residence: President’s House, Knight Campus, Warwick
Q: What will be your priorities as President?
A: The most important thing right now is to spend time listening and giving people a venue in which to share their thoughts. Listening is very important and one of my highest priorities now.
Also, there are some very important positions that have needed filling, including the director of Human Resources. I have recently named Sheri Norton to this position as she has demonstrated a keen knowledge and awareness of the human resource process. I also want to begin the process of interviewing candidates for the position of vice president of Business Affairs.
Another really strong priority for the college is the budget deficit. We need to deal with the deficit in a very systematic and engaging way that keeps intact our employee workforce and addresses areas of concern. We have a big gap to close.
That leads me to the four priorities I talked about a month ago. The first is student success. Unfortunately our enrollment will be down again this spring, and we’ve got to seriously address what we have to do to bring those enrollments back up. We need to establish very specific numbers for each campus. To do that, we need to look at the demographics, the data, the students we serve and the processes we use so that we can ensure we are making student enrollment as seamless as possible.
I also want to use broad-based input and evaluative tools to establish college-wide priorities. That prioritizing process will begin to help with teambuilding and the whole area of collegiality and collaboration. It should also help build a very strong and meaningful governance structure.
The third piece that we are already beginning to do is celebrate our successes in the work of students, faculty and staff members who are doing great things, because CCRI is doing great work everyday.
The fourth piece is making sure we continue those very strong business and community relationships that build on our success. Enhancing our Lifelong Learning opportunities will help us provide Rhode Island with a strong and educated workforce that continues to upgrade its skills. That’s a very big piece of what we do.
Lastly, I want to continue our strong political and governmental ties so that we can solicit their help in moving our college forward.
Q: What strengths do you bring to the job?
A: Probably the most important thing that I can do is bring my experience of 32 years to CCRI, with 25 of those years spent working at community colleges. Within the realm of that experience, I have come up through the ranks as a counselor, an athletic director, an admissions professional and an assistant to the president. I have held a variety of positions in which almost every area of an institution has reported to me at one time or another. Having that background allows me to come to CCRI and to deal with almost any topic. That experience is invaluable as we all begin to grow. I don’t want anyone to think that I have all the answers because I don’t. I certainly have ideas and thoughts, and hopefully we can establish a collegial approach in saying, "Have you thought about doing it this way?"
Q: How would you characterize your leadership style?
A: It’s open, collegial and democratic in approach, but it’s also one that’s driven by data and information. For the first week, everyone who came into my office with a report or something that needed my signature clearly understood that data was needed to back up a decision. If there is anything I’ve learned, it’s that you can’t make promises you can’t keep, and you certainly have to make decisions in a timely and consistent fashion.
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Di Pasquale greets advisor Bob Pagano during a faculty & staff coffee hour at the Flanagan Campus in Lincoln. Jack Owens of the physics department is pictured in the background. |
Q: How do you intend to be approachable?
A: In order to move a campus forward you want to be able to receive information, so my intent is to be approachable. If there is a weakness that I have, it’s that sometimes I open the door too wide. Right now, everyone is very excited about new leadership and a new president, and the information overload is unbelievable. But, the only way we can fix problems is to know where they are. We also have to recognize the good things we do so well.
I think that putting myself and other administrators in front of students on opening day was a great way to reinforce that message of approachability. Coordinating coffee hours for faculty and staff was another good way to reach out and to get to know people. The idea is to listen and learn.
Q: What were your greatest accomplishments at SUNY Brockport?
A: We accomplished so much as a team. We referred to it as "reinventing the college." For instance, when I started, we averaged 5,000 applications. This past fall, we had 11,000. It took a while, but we changed the way we did business and the way we delivered our services. The enrollment piece is considered to be one of the best stories in the SUNY system, and Brockport is now called the rising star in the system because of the increase in the quality of the student body and the quality of the learning environment that we created on campus.
We also dramatically changed the look of the campus. Brockport was in dire need of better signage and directions around campus, an issue that I have found here in trying to get around the Warwick campus and a little bit in Lincoln. It’s clear that there are things we can do better in helping students find their way around these buildings.
The other piece I’m particularly proud of is faculty involve-ment. The governance structure at Brockport has grown, and faculty had a great role to play in its success. Hopefully, as an institution, we will begin to see progress in areas of concern at CCRI.
Q: Although you’ve only been here a short time, what attributes of Rhode Island stand out?
A: I think the smallness of the state is a very positive thing. The fact that we are the community college for Rhode Island is a very big plus. You can’t go anywhere in the state without someone knowing something about us. Our alumni are in all walks of life, and practically everywhere I’ve gone, someone has come up to me and said that he or she was a CCRI graduate with a great deal of pride. That’s been nice to see. Because we have so many alumni in prominent areas of the state, we need to use them to promote our institution. My other reaction is that everyone I talk to wants the college to be successful because it helps drive the economy of the state. In a short period of time, those are the things that stand out, in addition to the beauty of the state.
Q: As the new President on the block, what is the message you’d like the people of RI to know?
A: I want to be the best spokesperson I can be for this institution. I want people to know that CCRI is a leader in education and is the leading workforce provider in the state, that we truly are a partner in education. That is why we are here. Our students can attend CCRI at a relatively low cost and they have the ability to transfer to any institution in the country. I want people to know that we want to make the state even stronger and that we are the place they should look to build those kinds of partnerships and business relationships.
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Di Pasquale talks with students in the Great Hall at Warwick's Knight Campus on the first day of classes. |
Q: From a personal perspective, can you tell us a little about yourself, who you are, where you’ve been, and your past experiences?
A: I grew up in a very small town in upstate New York
called Mt. Morris. Mt. Morris is a small community of about 3,500, and it is
very much like Rhode Island, with a mix of ethnic neighborhoods. I was a first-generation
student. My mom and dad never went to college. My older brother was chief of
police there for 30 years. It was a wonderful place to grow up. I played basketball,
football and baseball there; sports were my whole life. I went on to go to school
in Arkansas where I wanted to continue to play sports. I had a cousin teaching
at Arkansas Tech University and that’s the main reason I went there.
After graduation, I went to New Hampshire for a while, and then attended Northeastern
where I received my master’s degree. It was probably the best experience of
my life.
My professional career really began at Middlesex Community College where I began teaching part-time. Within a few years I went to Springfield Technical Community College where I spent the next 20 years. I was the youngest director of admissions in the history of the state of Massachusetts. I grew professionally at Springfield, and I did everything from being an assistant to the president to running for public office. I was on the school board and city council and even took a stab at running for mayor. It was a great experience, and today Springfield is one of the premier community colleges in the nation. Finally, I went back to New York in an area near where I grew up and spent nearly eight years at SUNY Brockport.
Q: What kind of books do you like to read?
A: The reading I do is predominantly business. Everything from Good to Great, The Leadership Challenge to The Tipping Point, which talks about how small things make a difference. So most of my reading is really spent looking at the good things that are happening throughout our country’s businesses and how these businesses are managing change. I enjoy discovering ways to continue to provide good leadership and how to take business approaches and relate them to higher education. I also try to read several newspapers a day in order for me to talk intelligently about current news and issues.
Q: What kind of cuisine do you like?
A: I have yet to have a bad meal in Rhode Island. It’s been a delight trying different restaurants on Federal Hill. I spent a weekend afternoon walking the Federal Hill district and the smells were unbelievable. I would say that my tastes range between Italian and French cooking, with an edge to Northern Italian cuisine.
Q: Can you tell us about your family?
A: I am married, but currently separated. I have a daughter who is 27 years old, and she is the love of my life. She lives in upstate New York, and that will be one of the difficult things, to not see her as often as I did. I look forward to having her visit Rhode Island and discovering this wonderful state.
Q: How old are you?
A: I’m 56. It’s amazing when you begin to age and someone asks you how old you are. I normally don’t think much about it because I have tons of energy and age doesn’t come into play other than I know I’m not as quick as I was when I was 20. As the years go on, I guess it’s the quality of those years and the experience that hopefully make me a better person and a better leader.
