The state Council on Postsecondary Education has voted unanimously to name Rosemary Costigan the sixth president of the Community College of Rhode Island.

The council’s June 18 vote ended an executive search, run by a nine-member committee and AGB Search, that produced 44 candidates and two finalists. AGB Search is the same firm that Rhode Island College hired in 2024 to find a permanent president.

Costigan is the first alumna hired to lead the school and the second woman to hold that position. She is a first-generation college student and is committed to providing the educational and support services necessary for students can achieve their academic and professional goals.

“I think when you look at the trajectory, I’m not an outlier. Our students, their journey starts here. But it takes our graduates everywhere,” said Costigan. “I hope that every student that comes through our doors can look at my journey and see the potential for themselves through the power of this institution.”

“This is a great day for higher education in our state,” Gov. Dan McKee said in a statement. “I congratulate Dr. Costigan and look forward to continuing to build on the momentum we’ve created. She knows CCRI inside and out, and I’m confident she will continue to elevate CCRI, its faculty and its students."

Costigan has been serving as interim president since Meghan Hughes stepped down as president in May 2023. Before being appointed to that role, Costigan worked as vice president for academic affairs at the college for nearly eight years.

“The interim title did not inhibit me from doing the work that needed to get done,” said Costigan. When she became interim president in 2023, she entered the job in a challenging time for the college post-pandemic. She recalled how the college stopped receiving pandemic funding and how the budget had to change accordingly. “It was back to reality very quickly,” she said.

Community colleges were hit hard by the pandemic, Costigan said. She explained how students were often frontline workers and had to choose between work and school. As a result, the college experienced lower enrollment rates.

But enrollment and graduation rates have been improving in recent years under Costigan’s leadership. According to CCRI Chief of Staff Amy Kempe, the two-year graduation rate is 3.2 times higher for the fall 2022 cohort than for the fall 2014 cohort. She said that college’s two- and three-yeargraduation rates exceed New England and national averages. With 71 days until the start of the fall semester, CCRI has about 5% more enrollment than it did at this time last summer.

When asked about her goals for CCRI, Costigan clearly stated she has four areas of focus: budget, enrollment, programming and philanthropy. This year, CCRI began a partnership with Achieve the Dream, an organization, which supports community colleges across the country through innovation and student-success initiatives.

CCRI, under Costigan’s leadership, has instituted and refreshed programs such as culinary arts, hospitality and tourism and surgical technician training. The college works with other higher education institutions across the state to improve transfer pathways for students from CCRI to other institutions. In terms of philanthropy, CCRI was gifted $2 million from an anonymous donor last year that was used to institute a seven-week developmental education program to help incoming students get their skills up to a college level.

Costigan is very passionate about “meeting students where they are.” Part of this mission is creating pathways for students to easily attend higher education. The Rhode Island Promise Program, instituted in 2017 by then-Gov. Gina Raimondo and Hughes, is a free tuition program for recent high school graduates.

“I believe that this is one of the most impactful policies in my lifetime, for sure,” Costigan said of the RI Promise Program. “The return on that investment will be measured for generations.”

Costigan has been educated her whole life in Rhode Island. She is a graduate of Shea High School in Pawtucket (formerly Pawtucket West High School). After graduating with an associate’s degree in nursing from CCRI (formerly Rhode Island Junior College), Costigan continued her nursing education at Rhode Island College, where she earned her bachelor’s degree. She then went on to complete her master’s and Ph.D. programs at the University of Rhode Island.

“The faculty that I had really did instill in me a strong sense of commitment to lifelong learning and that you have an obligation to advance in your profession,” she said.  

In addition to her academic background, she was a full-time nurse for 21 years at the former Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island, in Pawtucket, working in critical care, ICU and OR departments.

“Nurses are leaders,” said Costigan. “I cannot describe how many days that my background as a nurse helped me navigate some pretty challenging and complex issues that I’ve encountered as an administrator.”

Costigan recalled that at one point when she was vice president for academic affairs, all three chief academic officers at CCRI, URI and RIC were Ph.D. nurses.

Outside of her work at CCRI, Costigan is a wife of 47 years, a mother of five children and a grandmother of eight. She lives in Pawtucket with her husband, who is a Nurse Anesthetist. When not working, you can find her watching the news on television as a self-proclaimed “news junkie.” She enjoys going to the beach, especially in Newport and Middletown. “I just love getting near the ocean, and that is probably one of the most relaxing things I can do,” she said. “I’m so grateful to be living in an area where the ocean is so close. Rhode Island is beautiful.”

As a family-oriented person, Costigan spends as much time as she can with her grandchildren and says it’s “great to see them growing and developing as students and athletes.” She is grateful for her large extended family, which she says has always been very supportive toward her goals.