CRANSTON – After two years leading the Community College of Rhode Island on an interim basis, Rosemary A. Costigan now has the president’s job permanently.
The R.I. Council on Postsecondary Education on June 18 unanimously approved Costigan to be the state community college’s full-time top leader. R.I. Office of the Postsecondary Commissioner spokesperson Beth Bailey confirmed Friday to Providence Business News that the council vetted two candidates – Costigan and Christopher Reber, president of Hudson County Community College in New Jersey – before appointing Costigan as CCRI’s sixth president. Also, 44 total candidates were vying for the chance to lead CCRI, RIPOC said.
Costigan is also the first CCRI alumna to serve as the college’s president in its history.
In a statement, David Caprio, the R.I. Council on Postsecondary Education’s chairperson, said Costigan’s accomplishments at CCRI were “powerful assets” in the committee’s eyes. Along with steering the community college through a “difficult” post-COVID-19 pandemic era, Costigan demonstrated “excellence in teaching, administration and academic leadership.”
“Because she is utterly committed to student success, we are confident that she will always keep the evolving needs of CCRI students as her priority,” Caprio said. “The caliber of the candidates overall was impressive, but Dr. Costigan stood out as the best person suited to lead the college now.”
Costigan, a 2024 Providence Business News
Business Women Awards honoree, permanently succeeds Meghan L. Hughes, who
departed CCRI on Aug. 31, 2023, after being named interim president in May of that year. Leading up to her presidency duties, Costigan held many roles in that time from being a nursing professor to interim nursing dean and then CCRI’s vice president of academic affairs.
Since then, Costigan has helped the community college launch new initiatives, particularly around workforce development. One program, launched last year, is a partnership with local apprenticeship support organization Building Futures on a new apprenticeship readiness program for recent high school graduates and adults. The 160-hour program provides participants an understanding of various construction and building trades careers, thereby enhancing workforce readiness throughout Rhode Island’s construction and trades industries, according to CCRI.
Most notably, CCRI in September 2023 received a landmark $5 million gift from Bally’s Corp. to help CCRI create and launch new programming tailored to the gaming, hospitality and security industries. That grant helped CCRI create
a new casino training room at the community college’s Flanagan Campus in Lincoln.
CCRI also in 2024 received
an anonymous $2 million gift to fund the three-year CCRI Advantage pilot initiative. The program provides students with personalized academic coaching, targeted tutoring and comprehensive support services. The free program will help students transition into credit-bearing coursework at the college during the second half of their first semester, CCRI said at the time.
Terms on a new contract will be negotiated over the course of the next final weeks, RIPOC said. Her salary last year was $285,000, according to the state’s transparency portal.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on X at @James_Bessette.
Congratulations!! About time 🙂