ITHACA, N.Y. — Ithaca College is preparing for a leadership transition as the school’s provost and executive VP will become interim president, effective Aug. 30. The Ithaca College board of trustees has appointed La Jerne Terry Cornish to role for the entirety of the 2021-22 academic year. Current school president Shirley Collado has accepted a […]
ITHACA, N.Y. — Ithaca College is preparing for a leadership transition as the school’s provost and executive VP will become interim president, effective Aug. 30.
The Ithaca College board of trustees has appointed La Jerne Terry Cornish to role for the entirety of the 2021-22 academic year.
Current school president Shirley Collado has accepted a job as president and CEO of College Track, which is described as a college-completion program, effective on Jan. 10, 2022.
Before she departs, Collado will assume the role of senior advisor to the interim president and the board of trustees of Ithaca College through Dec. 31, 2021, “helping to ensure a smooth and successful transition” for Provost Cornish as well as working on projects that are currently in-process to help advance the college’s strategic plan, Ithaca College said.
In a message to the campus community, David Lissy, who chairs the board of trustees and vice chair Jim Nolan “expressed confidence” in Cornish’s ability to lead the college during the coming year. They noted that since her appointment as provost in 2018, Cornish has played a “significant role” in partnering with Collado on decision-making processes related to the overall direction of the institution.
“She steered the development and implementation of the Ithaca Forever strategic plan and helped ensure that students and faculty were able to successfully navigate the challenges of the pandemic this past academic year — one of the most challenging in the college’s history,” they wrote. “We are very confident that the strong and steady leadership that she has already demonstrated, in concert with an accomplished and dedicated senior leadership team, will provide the continuity and momentum that will serve the college well as we continue to achieve forward progress.”
Cornish said that she is honored to be given this opportunity.
“I want to thank the board of trustees for placing its trust in me and in our leadership team, and I look forward to working on behalf of our students, faculty, and staff to maintain the positive trajectory generated by the launch of our strategic plan,” said Cornish. “I also want to thank President Collado for establishing such a solid foundation from which to advance this important work.”
On behalf of the board of trustees, Lissy and Nolan offered their congratulations to Collado on her new appointment at College Track and expressed their “deepest appreciation” for her service to Ithaca College over the past four years.
Co-founded in 1997 by philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, Oakland, California–based College Track works in collaboration with the nearby Emerson Collective to remove the academic, financial, and social-emotional barriers that keep first-generation students from low-income communities from completing college and thriving in the workforce, as described in an Ithaca College news release.