By Steven J. Maurano
Associate Commissioner for External Affairs, Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education

Nancy Carriuolo, RIC’s interim vice president for academic affairs, was selected by the Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education as the College’s ninth president. Carriuolo will succeed John Nazarian, who is retiring on June 30 after 18 years as president of the college.

“Nancy Carriuolo was, without question, the most outstanding candidate to be the next president of Rhode Island College,” said Judge Frank Caprio, chairman of the Board of Governors for Higher Education. “Her extensive higher education experience, including her work with the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, with the University of New Haven and here in Rhode Island at the Office of Higher Education, makes her extremely well qualified for the position. She knows the College and the system well, and is uniquely positioned to build on the excellent work of President Nazarian in moving Rhode Island College forward. The board is confident we have chosen wisely. We pledge our support to her and we wish her every success.”

“Nancy will be an ideal leader for Rhode Island College,” said Jack R. Warner, commissioner of Higher Education. “She is committed to the College’s mission of providing affordable access to a high quality education. She understands the importance of helping students achieve high standards of academic performance and she knows how to support faculty engagement in effective teaching, research and scholarship. I will enjoy working with Nancy in her new role.”

Carriuolo, 59, was selected from a group of four finalists after a nationwide search that attracted 48 candidates. The presidential search committee, chaired by Michael Ryan ’67, National Grid president for Rhode Island Distribution then pared the list to eight semi-finalists.

The search committee interviewed the eight semifinalists and chose four finalists, each of whom spent an entire day last month on the RIC campus, meeting with students, faculty and staff. Finalists also interviewed with Warner, University of Rhode Island President Robert L. Carothers and Community College of Rhode Island President Raymond M. Di Pasquale.

Carriuolo was born and raised in Hilton, N.Y. She earned a BA in English (with a president’s citation as valedictorian) in 1970 and an MS in education in 1973 from the State University of New York at Brockport, and a PhD in research and evaluation in 1979 from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She also attended the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study where she completed post-doctoral studies in organizational behavior and management, fundraising and negotiation.

Carriuolo was an English teacher and co-chair of the Language Arts Department at Kendall Central School in Kendall, N.Y., before launching her career in higher education. She joined the University of New Haven as director of developmental studies and assistant professor of English in 1980 after having served as an adjunct professor of English at two institutions of higher education in the state of Georgia. She was promoted to assistant provost and associate professor in 1984, gained tenure in 1986 and became a full professor of English in 1987.

From 1990-94, she was director of the Office for School/College Relations with the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc. in Winchester, Mass. In 1994, she returned to the University of New Haven and resumed her professorship. In 1995, she was named acting dean of the School of Arts & Sciences. She became dean of the College of Arts & Sciences as well as of the University’s School of Hotel/ Restaurant Management and Dietetics Administration in 1996. That same year, she was also named executive director of entrepreneurial programs.

Carriuolo joined the Office of Higher Education (RIOHE) as associate commissioner for academic affairs in 2000. She added responsibilities for student affairs in 2002 and was promoted to deputy commissioner and chief academic officer in 2006. Her work at RIOHE involved developing, monitoring and overseeing academic and student success policies in higher education in Rhode Island.

She has served as interim vice president for academic affairs at RIC for the 2007-08 academic year at the request of Nazarian.

Carriuolo is the author of over 30 publications and has worked with a number of regional, national and international higher education and business organizations as a consultant. She is past president of the National Association for Developmental Education and a longstanding board member of the Journal of Developmental Education.

She was the lead author of the Journal’s winter 2007 feature article, “Advice for Novice Researchers Who Wish to Publish Their Results.” She was the founding statewide leader of the Rhode Island Chapter of the American Council on Education’s network of women leaders in higher education and is a newly appointed member of the Rhode Island Commission on Women. She serves on the statewide steering committee of STEM (Science/Technology/Engineering/Mathematics).

Carriuolo’s husband Ralf is a native Rhode Islander and a retired music professor. He holds an undergraduate degree from Yale University and a PhD from Wesleyan University. They have one son, Matthew, a high school physics teacher.