With the state Board of Governors for Higher Education poised to vote on his future, Thomas D. Sepe, president of the Community College of Rhode Island since 2000, announced Thursday that he would step down Dec. 31, six months before the end of his current contract.
The board was set to vote Monday on a three-year contract renewal for Sepe, but after a rocky year – including conflicts with the CCRI faculty union, critical reports from the Office of Higher Education, and an accreditation review that identified significant academic and organizational problems – Sepe’s job was widely believed to be in jeopardy.
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But Sepe was intent on completing the work he had begun, and as recently as Nov. 17, he told the PBN he wanted to stay because CCRI was “at a tipping point” for crucial changes. (Read the interview here.)
On Nov. 28, however, when the governors’ personnel committee met with Sepe to discuss his future, he said “he wanted to assess his own options,” so the committee chose not to take a stance on his contract, Higher Education Commissioner Jack Warner said.
Asked why Sepe would suddenly choose to resign, Warner replied: “People’s views about things change, and he obviously had a change of heart.” Sepe was unavailable for comment.
Under the terms of his contract, Sepe, 64, is a tenured professor at CCRI, and when he steps down, he’s entitled to stay and teach, earning 60 percent of his last annual salary (he now earns about $157,000).
In a letter to the CCRI community, Sepe said he plans to “return to the classroom,” and also to “continue my involvement in the state’s economic development activities.”
Sepe wrote that he was resigning “only after much consideration of the college and introspection about my own professional needs and interests,” and that he remains “extremely proud” of CCRI’s accomplishments under his leadership.
“During my tenure, the college has made tremendous progress in identifying factors that impact students’ success, in evaluating the college’s capacity and effectiveness in addressing students’ needs, and in developing tools to measure that success,” he wrote.
“CCRI today has more services for students, more new, expanded and innovative programs, more and better facilities, more applications of technology, and greater financial support from our energetic Foundation. In addition, the business community has realized the benefits of CCRI’s workforce education and customized training. Clearly, we are contributing to the quality of life and economic development of our state.”
In a written statement, Board of Governors Chairman Frank Caprio said Sepe “deserves recognition for several important accomplishments,” such as the way he “has reached out to the Rhode Island business community and has offered CCRI’s courses and programs to support workforce training needs,” and how he “has been visible to notable segments of Rhode Island business and industry and to those working to support economic development .”
Warner said the Board of Governors is “resolute” on continuing Sepe’s “change agenda,” and it expects “all of the internal stakeholders” to “work collaboratively with the next leader to accomplish that change agenda.” The board also expects to continue Sepe’s outreach to the business community and his workforce training efforts, he said.
No replacement for Sepe was immediately named, though Warner said “a number of people” have expressed interest in the job, and one will be chosen shortly.
