Two finalists remain in the running for a new permanent president of the Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI), the state agency steering the selection process announced Tuesday.
One of the finalists, Rosemary Costigan, has been president in an interim capacity since the 2023 resignation of predecessor Meghan Hughes, the community college’s first female president. The other finalist is Christopher Reber, who has been president of Hudson County Community College in Jersey City, New Jersey, since 2018.
Both candidates will participate in a series of forums with students, faculty, staff, alumni, and members of the CCRI Foundation Board on June 4 and June 6. According to the CCRI website, each candidate will give a 10- to 15-minute presentation, followed by informal Q&A sessions with the CCRI community, who will also be able to fill out feedback forms for each candidate.
“The finalists will be interviewed and will conduct Q&As with the CCRI community on one day each,” Beth Bailey, a spokesperson for the Rhode Island Office of the Postsecondary Commissioner, said in an email Tuesday. She added that the agenda has not yet been finalized.
Bailey said the announcement of CCRI’s next president will likely come before July 1. She added that once a selection is made, the postsecondary council will work with the incoming leader to finalize the contract, salary, and start date.
The commissioner’s office is the administrative arm of the Rhode Island Council on Postsecondary Education, which oversees public higher education in the Ocean State. The commissioner’s office announced the search in January and formed a nine-member search committee. At the helm were co-chairs Elizabeth Ortiz, associate justice with the Rhode Island Family Court, and Steve Smith, an educational consultant who previously led the Providence Teachers Union.
To lead the process, the commissioner’s office hired AGB Search — the same firm hired to identify the next president of Rhode Island College in 2023. The community college’s national search for a new president was posted on Feb. 25, according to the AGB website, and set an April 22 deadline for applications. A total of 44 candidates applied in that timespan. The search committee narrowed the options down to eight semifinalists.
“The process to cut the list of candidates down from 44 applicants to these two was highly competitive,” Ortiz said in a statement Tuesday. “The diverse pool of candidates, many with formidable resumes, provided the opportunity for the search committee to choose the finalists that were indeed the best match for CCRI at this time.”
“Of the eight semi-finalists, there was much discussion about which candidates had the vision and experience to lead the college through its next era,” Smith added in his own statement.
According to the job posting, the new president will play a crucial role in advancing the college’s 2022-2027 strategic plan, which emphasizes student outcomes among a diverse population of learners, workforce partnerships, and sustainable finances. The student body includes more than 12,000 students across four campuses and two satellite centers — 62% of whom attend part-time, with an average age of 25. CCRI is also a federally designated Hispanic-Serving Institution.
CCRI’s finances are in good health, and the most recent independent audit found its assets increased by $11.1 million from the previous fiscal year, according to the job profile. Nearly half the college’s revenue is appropriated by the state, making legislative advocacy an important duty for the CCRI president.
While salary data is presently unavailable for the incoming president, in the current fiscal year of 2025, Costigan has a salary of $299,999, according to the state’s payroll transparency portal. Costigan is also the first CCRI alum to occupy the president’s post. Costigan’s inclusion in the final group of contestants mirrors the Rhode Island College presidential search, which eventually saw interim leader Jack Warner emerge victorious among 65 candidates.
Costigan, a first-generation college student from Pawtucket, finished her studies at CCRI, then known as Rhode Island Junior College, and went on to earn her bachelor’s from Rhode Island College and her master’s and doctorate in nursing from the University of Rhode Island. According to Costigan’s LinkedIn, she has worked at CCRI in various roles for almost 26 years, starting as a professor of nursing in June 1999. She previously chaired the school’s nursing department and also served as its assistant dean. Before becoming interim president, Costigan served for nearly eight years as CCRI’s vice president for academic affairs.
In his tenure at Hudson County Community College, Reber launched the Hudson Scholars program, which offers up to a $625 stipend per semester for students who meet with mentors and reach certain academic milestones. Reber also helped lead DEI initiatives at the school, such as establishing a President’s Advisory Council on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and an Office of DEI.
Previously, Reber was president of Community College of Beaver County in Pennsylvania from 2014 to 2018 and executive dean of Venango College of Clarion University from 2002 to 2014. He holds a doctorate in higher education from the University of Pittsburgh and completed postdoctoral studies at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education.
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
