Roy J. Nirschel, inaugurated Oct. 20 as Roger Williams University’s eighth president, says strengthening ties with Rhode Island’s business community is among his key goals.
“We’re a $110 million business ourselves,” Nirschel said during an interview last week. He said that the Bristol liberal-arts school has 1,000 employees, making it the area’s largest private employer. “With that perspective, we’d like to build links with the corporate community to serve its needs better.”
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Nirschel said he would like to build on RWU’s tradition of offering hands-on, practical training that will benefit both graduates and employers when students leave the school. He said he hopes that can be accomplished partly by enhancing the school’s corporate-training and continuing-education programs at its Center for Professional Development on Washington Street in Providence.
He also wants to see the university “become more of a participant and player in the life of Providence,” primarily through the school’s architecture and historic-preservation programs. “We’re already active in Providence through economic- and neighborhood-revitalization projects, but I’d like to see us do a lot more,” Nirschel said.
An immediate objective for Nirschel is finding a “first-class” dean for RWU’s Gabelli School of Business. The school is conducting a national search for a new dean.
Eventually, Nirschel said, RWU would develop additional, more “issue-specific” graduate curriculums, with plans to tailor programs such as business, engineering and construction management to reflect the career aspirations of its students.
Nirschel, who succeeded Joseph Hagan as university president on Aug. 1, has made clear his goal of building RWU into “the premiere liberal arts university in the region.” He said he wants the school to take a more “global perspective” – an objective he has achieved often during his career in academia.
As president of Newbury College in Brookline the last three years, Nirschel implemented cross-registration programs with local and international colleges, including schools in Japan and South Korea.
While Nirschel was the vice president for university advancement at the University of Miami between 1991 and 1998, he helped establish a center for Judaic studies and a center for Cuban and Cuban-American studies.
He has also raised a lot of money for universities during his career. While at Miami, he helped increase private giving from $50 million to $80 million. As assistant vice president for development and alumni affairs at the University of Pittsburgh from 1986 to early 1991, Nirschel spearheaded the school’s $200 million fundraising campaign.
At Newbury College Nirschel helped the school achieve its initial accreditation from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. He also is credited with boosting bachelor’s-degree enrollments at Newbury by 65 percent and increasing the school’s freshman-to-sophomore retention rate from 65 percent to 82 percent.
To jump-start his plans for Roger Williams, Nirschel has begun a strategic-planning process involving about 100 people, representing various facets of the community. The group will develop strategies for enrollment, student retention, fundraising and facilities, among other areas.
