Girelli selected for national leadership development program

Carl Girelli

Randolph College is pleased to announce that Carl Girelli, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the College, is one of 24 senior-level administrators in higher education nationwide selected by the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) to participate in the 2017–18 Executive Leadership Academy.

Individuals chosen for the yearlong program are vice presidents or cabinet officers in higher education who aspire to the presidency of an independent college or university. Girelli will participate in two seminars in Washington, D.C.; the opening seminar will take place July 20–22, 2017, and the closing seminar will be held June 18–20, 2018. He also will engage in readings, webinars, and a mentoring program. In addition, he will develop and follow an experiential learning plan focused on specific areas of presidential responsibility.

The academy is designed to prepare provosts and other vice presidents to serve as effective college presidents.

“Competition for the available places in the program was intense,” said CIC President Richard Ekman. “The review committee found the nomination materials to be most impressive. They—and I—believe that Carl Girelli has the potential for highly effective leadership as a college or university president.”

Girelli holds degrees from the University of Connecticut, with a B.A. in Portuguese and a Ph.D. in linguistics. Before coming to Randolph in 2012, he served in the English department of Catawba College for more than two decades, achieving the rank of tenured professor before transitioning to administrative posts in Student Affairs, enrollment, and ultimately as associate provost. At Randolph, Girelli oversees all areas of the College’s academic program and has worked hard with faculty and staff to bring some exciting curricular changes, such as the equine studies minor.

“I am honored to have been selected as a participant in the Executive Leadership Academy,” Girelli said. “My service to Randolph College has provided vast opportunity for growth, and this experience promises to equip me to serve more broadly. The academy will be an excellent complement to the insights that my wife, Anita, and I gained as participants in the CIC Presidential Vocation and Institutional Mission program.”

Fifty-nine percent of participants in the first Executive Leadership Academy cohort (2009–2010) have since advanced in the higher education ranks, and 24 percent of participants in a recent cohort (2015–16) have already “moved up” in the ranks.

“These indicators suggest that CIC is helping to meet the leadership needs of higher education by offering highly effective leadership development programs for modest fees to member institutions,” Ekman said.

The academy is co-sponsored by CIC, the American Academic Leadership Institute, Academic Search, Inc., and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. Linda M. Bleicken, president of AALI, will direct the program.

For more information about the Executive Leadership Academy, visit www.cic.edu/ExecutiveLeadershipAcademy.