NH's fall semester starts with 7 new college leaders

Despite the challenging headwinds that have led to high turnover among the nation's college and university presidents, seven new leaders are assuming higher education posts in New Hampshire this summer with forward-looking agendas and enthusiasm. They are Catherine Provencher, chancellor of the University System of New Hampshire;; Elizabeth S. Chilton, president of the University of New Hampshire; Lisa Marsh Ryerson, president of Southern New Hampshire University; Peter A. Eden, president of Franklin Pierce University; Patrick Cate, president of Lakes Region Community College; Sarmad Saman, president of White Mountains Community College; and Laura Sykes, who takes over as interim president of Colby-Sawyer College in mid-August. They assume their posts at a critical time for higher education nationally. Colleges face dwindling enrollments, financial constraints, debate over the value of a college degree, and criticism by many students, faculty and donors — not to mention Congress — over the reaction by some college presidents to campus unrest over the Israel-Hamas war. Over the years, such pressures have led to a drop in the average tenure for presidents of American colleges and universities, from 8.5 years in 2006 to 5.9 in 2022, according to a recent report by the American Council on Education. The average tenure for predecessors of New Hampshire's incoming college presidents was six years, except for former Southern New Hampshire University President Paul LeBlanc, who served 20 years. Meanwhile, more Americans seem to be disenchanted with college education. The number of young adults who said a college degree was important dropped from 74 percent in 2013 to 41 percent in 2019, according to Paul Tough, who has written about inequality in education in several books. College administrators have also faced backlash for their responses to pro-Palestinian campus protests. In December, the presidents of Harvard, M.I.T. and the University of Pennsylvania were interrogated by Congress for their reactions to such demonstrations, resulting in the resignations of Harvard President Claudine Gay and UPenn President Elizabeth Magill. Less than a year into her tenure as president of Dartmouth College, Sian Beilock was censured by the faculty for her decision to call police on people protesting the war in Gaza on campus on May 1. (Beilock declined to be interviewed for this story.) Then-UNH President James Dean and others in his administration faced calls for resignation in May after 12 people were arrested following an anti-Israel protest where an encampment was built. "People aren't staying in the position [of college president] as long as they used to because it takes a toll on people," says Sykes of Colby-Sawyer College. "The amounts of money charged for tuition, budget challenges, faculty and staff who want raises — these are terribly hard decisions to make, and it just wears on the president after a while." Creating pathways Nevertheless, New Hampshire's new college leaders say they relish the challenges and come to the table with proposals for advancing higher education in the state, ranging from greater collaboration among colleges to strategies for making education more affordable. Gone are the days when colleges were ivory towers with self-contained campuses. Fluidity among institutions, from dual enrollment programs that allow high schoolers to earn college credits, to spreading schooling out across years and institutions, is seen as a way of making a college education more accessible and more affordable. Partnerships with businesses and community groups are also viewed as key. Provencher says the presidents and provosts of the University System of New Hampshire (which includes UNH, UNH School of Law, Plymouth State University, and Keene State College) and the Community College System of New Hampshire have been working together to provide "a more seamless pathway from dual enrollment to community college to the university system." "We can't afford to be competing with one another because there are only so many students and it's incumbent on us to do everything we can to benefit students, families and the economy," she says. Ryerson of Southern New Hampshire University agrees, saying "education makes a difference in unlocking opportunity across a lifespan. I'm a first-generation college graduate so I certainly know that in my own life. Learning at different times in our lives for different degrees or certificates — all of it matters." Saman of White Mountains Community College points to community college as an economical entry point into higher education, noting someone who gets an associate degree at a community college can get a well-paying job and still earn a bachelor's degree at a four-year college. Colby-Sawyer College, Franklin Pierce University, Keene State College, New England College and Plymouth State University have joined the New England Transfer Guarantee, a program of the New England Board of Higher Education, to simplify transfers for students with community college associate degrees to four-year institutions in New Hampshire. Workforce partnerships Critical to the success of any college these days are partnerships with local business and community groups, and with that comes the opportunity to keep graduates in the New Hampshire workforce, which is in dire need of the help. "You're seeing businesses start to come here [the Lakes Region] and grow. Small industries are moving in and we need to make sure we're part of that going forward," says Cate of Lakes Region Community College. "We're partnering with high schools and local businesses to make sure we're providing what they need in the future." Sykes also expects Colby-Sawyer to generate "new and focused programming with an eye to the specific workforce needs of the region," and points to the school's multimillion-dollar partnership with Dartmouth Health as an example. That agreement provides funds for new health science programs at the college so it can expand its nursing program and help fill job vacancies at Dartmouth Health. Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center offers employment to all Colby-Sawyer graduating nurses and offers a loan repayment program to help RNs repay up to $20,000 in student loans. Chilton of UNH says it's still important for students to receive a broad liberal arts education as a means of preparing not only for a career, but for life. "Young people are not being told that you're going to college to explore your world but to think about what they want to be and to get the credential for that and get a high-paying job," she says. "In one study I saw, only 33 percent of students go into the profession they majored in." Integrating courses that include job skills like Excel and PowerPoint into the curriculum would allow students to learn professional skills while studying almost any subject, she adds. Collaboration Collaboration among the state's colleges and universities is providing both an academic and a financial boon. Manchester Community College, UNH, Southern New Hampshire University and other partners are working together on a project to provide pathways for students to enter the emerging industry of biofabrication. The federal $1 billion Build Back Better Regional Challenge is bringing $44 million in funding to Manchester to help make it a biofabrication industry hub. SNHU was awarded nearly $9 million to lead a "Work & Learn" component of the project. White Mountains Community College, Lakes Region Community College and River Valley Community College have partnered to offer an LPN program. Local trucking companies also work with the White Mountains College to hire graduates of its commercial driver's license course. Provencher says one of her goals as chancellor is to provide shared services to every USNH campus for departments like legal, human resources, finance, budgeting, and internal auditing. Workday Inc. has also been chosen as a software provider for a new Enterprise Resource Planning solution to integrate business processes over the next few years. The N.H. College & University Council also provides regular opportunities for leaders of the state's higher education institutions to collaborate, including a forum every six months. Attracting students The new leaders are getting creative when it comes to attracting students to New Hampshire's higher education institutions by focusing on cost to draw them in and personalized education to retain them. After Lakes Region Community College saw dramatic drops in enrollment between 2011 and 2020, "since 2020 we have been growing," due to making investments in key programs, says Cate, who adds the school also offers many scholarship opportunities. Among students in this spring's graduating class, 40 percent had no debt at all, he says. Colby-Sawyer is in the second year of a "tuition reset," Sykes says. The annual published tuition price for four-year undergraduate students fell from $46,364 in 2022-23 to $17,500 in the fall of 2023 "to entice a very large group of students who never would have looked at us in the first place to come to campus," she says. The cost of tuition for the 2024-25 school year is $18,026. Provencher notes USNH has held tuition flat while inflation has grown and students need more financial aid. "The average net price for a New Hampshire resident has dropped on average over the last six years," she says. Ryerson of SNHU says she has seen "the great richness of offerings" provided by higher education in New Hampshire. "We have a great opportunity in New Hampshire to come together as presidents and create a community and think about ways we work together to create pathways to allow people to see New Hampshire as a wonderful place to go to college."