LREI Board of Trustees member, Dr. Shirley M. Collado has been selected as Ithaca College's ninth president.

On February 22, 2017, Ithaca College’s Board of Trustees announced the selection of Shirley M. Collado as Ithaca College’s ninth president. Collado currently serves as executive vice chancellor and chief operating officer at Rutgers University–Newark. She will assume the presidency at Ithaca on July 1, 2017.

“I am proud to welcome Shirley Collado to Ithaca College as our next president,” said Thomas Grape ’80, chairman of the board of trustees. “The breadth and caliber of her experience in student and faculty development, her strength in large-scale strategic planning, her commitment to shared governance, and her track record of  bringing people together to solve problems and get results make her the perfect leader to shape the next chapter of this college’s history.”

Collado succeeds Thomas R. Rochon, who has served as president of Ithaca College since 2008.

The board’s unanimous approval followed the recommendation of Collado by a presidential search committee that formed in March 2016. “The committee has done an outstanding job,” said Grape. “We owe them a debt of gratitude for their thoughtfulness and commitment.” The 15-member committee, comprising trustees, faculty, staff, and students, was chaired by trustee James Nolan ’77, parent ’01.

“I am deeply honored to have been selected as the next president of such an accomplished, energetic, and deeply engaged community,” said Collado. “I admire Ithaca College’s devotion to student growth and success, its resolve in facing difficult problems together head-on, and its desire to make sure the college and its graduates make a powerful impact on the world.”

An expert in organizational behavior and development, Collado has held executive leadership roles in higher education for more than 16 years at private and public institutions, as well as in the nonprofit sector. Trained as a clinical psychologist at Duke University, Collado specializes in the intersection of race, ethnicity, and gender in trauma experiences and treatment. She has taught at a number of colleges and universities, including New York University, Georgetown University, George Mason University, the New School, Middlebury College, and Lafayette College. She earned a B.S. in human and organizational development and psychology from Vanderbilt University, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in clinical psychology from Duke University.

At Rutgers University–Newark, Collado led the development of the Honors Living-Learning Community (HLLC), a residential honors community aimed at attracting and supporting talented students who may be overlooked by traditional honors programs. Together, cohorts of students join an intergenerational learning community composed of students, faculty, and community partners focused on tackling some of the nation’s most pressing social issues through an innovative curriculum centered on local citizenship in a global world. Collado played a central role in addressing some of the highest priorities in implementing the university’s strategic plan while engaging both internal and external stakeholders. She also worked to align the academic affairs and student affairs functions at Rutgers University–Newark in order to increase inclusiveness and student success.

Prior to her appointment at Rutgers University–Newark, Collado served as vice president for student affairs and dean of the college at Middlebury. During her time there, Collado led the transformation of the Center for Careers and Internships, the development of the Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity, the strengthening of the residential life experience, the development of forward-looking sexual misconduct and judicial policies, and the overhaul of a new student orientation program, which earned national recognition. 

The strategic work Collado has done to reach across institutional boundaries and build community has garnered widespread attention and support. For example, in July 2016 Collado developed and launched the BOLD Women’s Leadership Network, a collaboration among Rutgers University–Newark, Middlebury College, Smith College, and the University of California–Fullerton. Funded by a $5 million grant from Helen Gurley Brown’s Pussycat Foundation, BOLD aims to develop courageous leadership among college women who possess the skills necessary to move discourse forward on some of our nation’s most challenging social issues. In 2012 Collado, with a major grant from the Andrew A. Mellon Foundation, designed and led the Creating Connections Consortium (C3), regarded as one of the most innovative faculty diversity initiatives in higher education. C3 is a partnership designed to enhance interactions between liberal arts colleges and research universities in order to expand the pathway to the professoriate for underrepresented graduate students, including minority, first-generation, and low-income students.

Chancellor of Rutgers University–Newark Nancy Cantor expressed admiration for Collado’s leadership: “I am absolutely thrilled at the appointment of Shirley Collado as the next president of Ithaca College. Shirley is a terrific leader who collaborates and motivates all those around her to pursue the mission of higher education today of educating the next diverse generation of professionals, citizens, and leaders, and to foster high-impact scholarship that makes a real difference in our world.  She has been a true star. She is a consummate collaborator and a leader who gets things done, all wrapped up in one very strong and thoughtful and caring visionary.  This is a wonderful appointment, and I look forward eagerly to all that will bloom under her leadership at Ithaca.”