On Tuesday March 19, the Chair of the Board of Trustees for AIC Frank Colaccino and the Vice Chair Kevin Saremi emailed AIC community members to announce that Dr. Hubert Benitez had tendered his resignation as President of American International College. Benitez was president of the institution for two years. Nicolle Cestero, the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at AIC, has been appointed Interim President.
Benitez stated in his letter of resignation, “I want to thank the Board of Trustees for the opportunity it has granted me to serve AIC. It has been rewarding work with a committed team of colleagues reimagining the future of the College. While there are still vast opportunities to advance the mission of AIC, the collective efforts and progress made to date on executing the institution’s strategic initiatives fill me with hope, and I trust that these efforts will bear fruit in the near future.”
Cestero has worked at AIC since 2011 where she first served as the Vice President for Human Resources. She currently serves as Chief of Staff, COO, and Executive Vice President. Cestero previously served as Interim President during the institution’s last search for a president.
Cestero commented on the Board of Trustee’s decision to appoint her as the Interim President. “I believe that the trustees made the decision to appoint me as an interim president because of both my longevity with the institution and the fact that I have had the privilege of serving under the last two presidents as chief of staff. In that role you have access to everything that the president has access to, so I have all of the knowledge of the previous two presidents, which makes it a much simpler transition. ”
With the president leaving, many students became concerned for the institution and how this change would impact their education and experience at AIC. A few weeks after the announcement that Dr. Benitez was leaving, the administration assembled the campus community for a Town Hall with students, staff, and faculty.
Cestero clarified her goal with the Town Hall on April 1. “We wanted to make sure that we are bringing everybody together,” she said. “We wanted to have more of a dialogue; we didn’t want it to be somebody on the stage and just talking at the people. We wanted to include employees and students because the past couple of weeks have been very crazy, and we wanted to make sure that we are bringing everybody together… We wanted to ensure that we were allowing people to come forward with their questions and we are answering those questions honestly and to the best of our ability with the information that we have.”
The Town Hall began with a short presentation of the findings from the recent visit from the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE). Then, Cestero encouraged members of the audience to acknowledge the hard work being done by students, faculty, and staff by offering kudos to other members of the campus community.
Many students and staff were eager for the chance to attend the Town Hall and voiced their questions and concerns. Following the Town Hall, sophomore education major Ireland Stevenson commented, “I thought there was a lack of communication regarding the president’s departure. He did not take the time to talk to our community about his departures and left us in a challenging situation. We have built a strong community and we’re working through obstacles, but his leaving led to more obstacles. The Town Hall was fairly successful, and I appreciated the kudos. However, it took up a great chunk of time. It was a positive outlook on AIC. However, I hope to see better communication, especially with emails and allowing students to gain more involvement with decisions.”
As this student and more alike have shared, they are hoping to gain more agency in the decisions that are made across campus. Specifically, many are hoping to be involved in the decision regarding the next President. During the institution’s last search for a President, students got to share their opinion on the candidates for the position, but the decision was ultimately in the hands of the Board of Trustees.
The Interim President believes that at some point in the process there will be a role for students to play, but it has not yet been determined. The search for a new President has not yet started, since the academic year is still coming to a close.
Cestero commented on this, saying, “I think that students can expect a new president some time [during the] next fiscal year, or at the very beginning of the next fiscal year. So either January first of 2025 or July first of 2025.” She does not believe the search will have a big impact on student life and academics.
Cestero also expressed her hopes for the road ahead. “What I want to do is work together to find a way to do the things that we can do that makes AIC better for everybody… things that can really make this institution better, make students feel good about it, make employees feel good about it. I’m hoping we can work together and find the solution.”
