Dedicated to the principle of democratic access to a liberal arts college experience, COPLAC colleges and universities provide a student-centered undergraduate experience comparable in quality to distinguished private liberal arts colleges, but at a public university price point.
COPLAC also enjoys an organizational and administrative structure that facilitates member collaborations at multiple levels. These include multi-campus faculty and student research projects, professional development opportunities for faculty and professional staff, and enhanced information-sharing among senior administrators.
Serving first as Provost and later as President of Truman State University, Troy Paino comes to the University of Mary Washington with a strong commitment to the public liberal arts. As the current President of COPLAC, Dr. Paino is also familiar with other colleagues who have made a successful migration from one COPLAC member campus to another. Their stories would certainly ring true at the University of Mary Washington.
The new Associate Provost at Sonoma State University in California, Karen Moranski (left), was formerly in a similar administrative position at the University of Illinois-Springfield.
“I like the combination of small size and the access and affordability mission of COPLAC,” said Moranski. I like that COPLAC [members] are student-centered and focused on enlivening, enriching, and informing the public sphere.”
According to Celia Rabinowitz (right), Dean of Mason Library at Keene State College in New Hampshire and former Director of the Library at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, each COPLAC campus is unique, but “the commitment and dedication of the faculty and staff to the mission of public liberal colleges, and to our shared COPLAC values, is very much the same.
“I am very proud to be able to say I have spent my entire career as a library professional in service to public liberal arts institutions.”
And for Sanders Huguenin (left), who migrated from the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma to the Provost’s position at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, “the fact that [UVa Wise] was another COPLAC school meant a lot to me,” said Huguenin.
“I really like being part of education on a human scale, where the faculty actually get to know the students by name, watch their development, and witness their ultimate success.”
Troy Paino’s inauguration as the 10th President of the University of Mary Washington continues a distinctive pattern of COPLAC-to-COPLAC migration. Alongside 15 of his senior administrative colleagues who have made the journey to and from sister institutions over the past decade, the public liberal arts sector is a powerful draw for talented leaders who care deeply about quality, access, and affordability in higher education.
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