PROVIDENCE – Providence College announced Friday that the Rev. Kenneth R. Sicard will become the college’s next president when Father Brian J. Shanley steps down at the end of the academic year.
Sicard, a Fall River native and 1978 PC graduate, has served as the college’s executive vice president and treasurer for the last 14 years. PC said he served as acting president when Shanley went on a six-month sabbatical in 2018.
Sicard’s will officially become Providence College’s 13th president on July 1, 2020.
The college’s board of trustees voted to nominate Sicard Friday morning following a monthslong search, PC said. Shortly theresafter, the Providence College Corporation ratified the nomination and elected Sicard.
Providence College announced in March that Shanley, the longest serving president in school history, would step down in June 2020 after 15 years in the position. The board of trustees had recommended that Shanley serve another five years, but he had been told by the provincial of the Dominican Friars Province of St. Joseph, which oversees the school, that he would not be allowed to continue.
According to PC’s announcement, Sicard had served as the president’s chief of staff and providing oversight for the college’s general counsel, as well as its divisions of athletics, external affairs/marketing/board relations, mission and ministry, student affairs, human resources and public safety.
Sicard had also served as co-chair of all three of the college’s strategic planning committees, including the most recent 10-year PC 200 Strategic Plan.
Following his graduation from Providence College in 1978 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, Sicard worked as an audit manager at Fleet Financial Group (then Industrial National Bank) until 1984. He earned an MBA from PC in 1982.
In 1984, Sicard entered the Dominican Order, later earning his bachelor’s degree in sacred theology and master of divinity degree from the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. Following his ordination as a priest in 1990, he served seven years as chaplain at Ohio Dominican College in Columbus, Ohio. He was also an instructor in business and theology.
In 1997, Father Sicard completed his studies for a doctoral degree in business education at Ohio State University and was assigned to PC as the dean of residence life. He administered and supervised the college’s residence life program and oversaw on-campus housing. He was appointed executive vice president in 2005.
From 2002 through 2010, Father Sicard also served as the treasurer of the Dominican Province of St. Joseph, overseeing the financial and accounting operations of the province. From 2010-2016, he served as a member of the Economic Council of the Dominican Order.
In addition to his duties as executive vice president and treasurer, Sicard is a member of the President’s Cabinet, and sits on various committees of the college’s board of trustees, including the Executive Committee, and the Audit, Board Affairs, Finance, Investment, and Strategic Planning Committees.
He also serves as chairman of the college’s Shared Governance Committee. He is a member of the Providence President’s Council, and is a trustee of St. Sebastian School in Needham, Mass., and a member of that school’s Audit and Finance Committees.
William Hamilton is PBN managing editor. You can follow him on Twitter @waham or email him at hamilton@pbn.com.
