SUSAN M. ESPER, a partner in audit and assurance in the Boston office of professional services and accounting firm Deloitte & Touche LLP, which is often referred to as Deloitte, was recently appointed as the new chairperson for Providence College’s board of trustees. Esper, who will succeed Christopher K. Reilly on July 1, will become the first female board chairperson in PC’s 108-year history. She has served on the board since 2013 and has been its vice chairperson since 2018. During her time on the board, Esper led multiple initiatives, including establishing the Providentia Endowed Fund.
What will be your first initiative as PC board chairperson? The board is especially excited about [The Rev. Kenneth R.] Sicard’s vision to expand the academic experience, with a focus on recruiting and retaining passionate educators at the forefront of their field who can teach the in-demand skills that students need to succeed, such as data science and analytics.
Kindly elaborate on the creation of the Providentia Endowed Fund and how much of an impact it has had for women on campus. In 2021, PC celebrated 50 years of women being admitted as students. At that time, a group came together to discuss ways to elevate and amplify women’s voices and support the college through collective giving. The Providentia Endowed Fund became the focus of a $1 million fundraising effort and to date, $2.2 million has been raised. There is no doubt that this has had a huge impact on the women of our campus, but it’s important to note that this impact expands to all members of our campus community. The fund has distributed more than $100,000 through 12 grants supporting students, faculty, staff and local high school students.
Some local private colleges, including Johnson & Wales University and the New England Institute of Technology, have created initiatives to help lower tuition costs. Does PC plan to launch a similar initiative? Access and affordability remain a top priority for the campaign, as we provide more than $100 million in need-based and merit-based aid to PC students each year. It is not just access to PC that changes our students’ lives but also the exposure that access provides to the rich academic character of our rigorous liberal arts curriculum. The college does everything we can to make a PC education accessible to as many students as possible, but there is no plan to reduce the cost of tuition.
PC has grown over the last 10 years, including new dormitories, athletic fields and establishing the new Ben Mondor Center for Nursing and Health Sciences. Where do you envision future growth and how will PC achieve that? The PC experience is rooted in the liberal arts, so growth will come from the full rollout of the School of Nursing and Health Sciences, plus the development of recently approved new majors in communications and data science. These programs, plus potential new programs in emerging technologies, will continue to attract students that want an education with both breadth and depth, preparing them as critical thinkers for a rapidly changing world.
(UPDATE corrects lead to show that Esper is a partner in audit and assurance in the Boston office of Deloitte & Touche LLP.)
