College of New Rochelle Names Dr. Betty Roberts VP for Finance & Administration

The following announcement is from the College of New Rochelle:

The College of New Rochelle has announced the appointment of Dr. Betty Roberts as Vice President for Finance & Administration, effective August 1, 2014.

“With considerable excitement, we welcome Dr. Roberts to this key leadership position at the College” said Judith Huntington, President of The College of New Rochelle. “She is an energetic, visionary, and transformational leader with a 30-year history of driving funding and student satisfaction to record levels and has an extraordinary and impressive resume of work experiences that will most certainly bring a proven best-practice approach to CNR.

“We have found in Dr. Roberts experience and expertise an outstanding congruence with the qualities desired in our vice president and find her to be, above all, passionate about our ‘non-negotiables,’ our Catholic, Ursuline heritage, the commitment to women, the primacy of the liberal arts and the building of community from diversity.”

Roberts brings more than three decades experience in administrating operations within collegiate environments, with particular experience in information technology, sustainability, finance, senior management, and organizational development, to this newly created position at the College. In her previous roles at various universities, she has been responsible for notable changes, including the revitalization of administrative processes, renovations to facilities, and forging successful partnerships with community, corporate, financial, and government organizations.

Most recently, she served as Chief Operating Officer at Alcorn State University of Mississippi (ASU), where she managed eight direct reports and a $97 million budget, while overseeing operations from student life to human resources, and facilities to financial services. At ASU, Roberts identified wasteful and costly systems within the university and devised plans to increase efficiency, redesigned the performance evaluation system for employees, developed a technology disaster recovery plan, which drastically reduced recovery times, and established an office of sustainability.

Roberts also had numerous successes in her previous role at Vice President of Administration and Finance at the University of Central Missouri, where developed a plan that reduced energy consumption by 31 percent, and oversaw the multi-million dollar constructions of the Student Recreation and Wellness Center and the Health and Human Performance Department.

She has also held positions as Associate Vice President of Information Technology at the University of Houston, Assistant Vice President of Business Services at Pennsylvania State University, and several positions of varied levels of authority at the University of Missouri System.

Roberts holds a Ph.D. in higher and adult education and an Ed.S. in higher and adult education from the University of Missouri-Columbia, an M.Ed. in elementary education from the University of Louisville, a B.A. in English/secondary education from Tusculum College, an A.A. in liberal arts from Cazenovia College for Women, and a Certificate in Financial Management from Cornell University.

Her extensive list of community activities includes serving on the Boards of Medgar and Myrlie Evers Institute, Cazenovia College, and the Kansas City Urban League and as Vice President of the Committee of Missouri State Higher Education Business Officers. She has presented at numerous conferences on a wide range of topics, including an address on “Balancing Green Initiatives with Deferred Maintenance Through Building Retrofit Projects” for the Central Association of College and University Business Officers. She has received several recognitions for her excellence in leadership, including being named an Outstanding Woman in Higher Education by University of Central Missouri and being the recipient of the Kappa Alpha Psi Community Achievement Award.

The first Catholic college for women in New York State, The College of New Rochelle was founded in 1904 by the Ursuline Order. Today, it comprises the all-women School of Arts & Sciences, and three schools which admit women and men: the School of New Resources (for adult learners), the School of Nursing and the Graduate School. The main campus of the College is located in lower Westchester County, 16 miles north of New York City. The College maintains five other campus locations in New York City for The School of New Resources in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Manhattan. Visit the College’s website at www.cnr.edu.