The University of Rhode Island (URI) has named R. Anthony Rolle ’88 its inaugural dean of the Alan Shawn Feinstein College of Education and Professional Studies. He writes, “Upon my arrival, I met Fernando Guzman ’80, URI’s director of diverse faculty and staff recruitment and retention. After chatting, we found that we both are from San Jose’s East Side (Dr. Guzman went to Overfelt HS and I attended Yerba Buena)—literally separated by the 101. We were just marveling about how two poor kids from the East Side attended SCU and now are at the URI. SCU truly is life changing.”

Rolle began his new position on July 1. “Dr. Rolle is an accomplished leader and scholar of education finance and economic policy, with expertise in the organizational and sociopolitical environments that influence the accuracy of economic productivity, policy efficacy, and equity measurements utilized for public education systems,” said Donald H. DeHayes, provost and vice president for academic affairs. Additionally, he has extensive administrative and leadership experiences in program and budget development, faculty development, and curriculum improvements related to higher education, professional leadership, and special populations programs. “Working with students, staff, and faculty in The Alan Shawn Feinstein College of Education and Professional Studies will provide a number of great opportunities,” Rolle said. “My hope is that our re-visioning efforts will create avenues for academic and professional successes that enrich the Rhode Island community.” Rolle’s research has been published in more than 50 books, journals, and monographs. While at Texas A&M, University of South Florida, and University of Houston, he conducted and managed nationally and internationally recognized K–12 education finance and policy research projects for various governmental and higher education policy centers. Rolle is the 2017 President of the National Education Finance Academy, an organization providing national leadership focused on integrating educational research and policy in a dynamic way to address critical issues in education today. He also holds an appointment as a Distinguished Research Fellow at Shanghai Academy of Education Sciences that supports the development of comparative and internationally focused K–20 educational leadership and policy initiatives.

Fernando Guzman has a doctoral degree in counseling psychology from the University of Denver, a master’s degree in counseling from California State University, Sacramento, and a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Santa Clara University.  He was the executive director of Multicultural Engineering Program at the Colorado School of Mines. For eight years, he was the assistant provost for multicultural faculty recruitment and retention at the University of Denver. For six years, he was an adjunct assistant professor in the Graduate School of Professional Psychology at the University of Denver. For ten years, he worked in mental health. Guzman has a long history of creating extremely creative and groundbreaking strategies to recruit board and staff members of color.