Wagner College president elected chair of NYS Higher Education Services Corp. Board of Trustees
Richard Guarasci, president of Wagner College on Staten Island, was recently elected chair of the board of trustees of the New York State Higher Education Services Corp. (HESC), the state agency that helps people pay for college.
Trustees receive no compensation for their service on the HESC board.
Guarasci is the 18th president of Wagner College, where he was previously the provost and senior vice president, responsible for academic and student affairs, admissions and support service, as well as serving as chief operating officer.
He holds the rank of professor of political science and he teaches in the areas of democracy, citizenship and American diversity.
Guarasci founded the Wagner Plan for the Practical Liberal Arts, the four-year curriculum for all undergraduates that combines a liberal arts core into a series of learning communities and experiential learning tutorials. The Wagner Plan is now recognized as one of the leading undergraduate curricula in the U. S. by higher education experts.
Wagner College was chosen as the recipient of the 2005 TIAA-CREF Theodore M. Hesburgh Award in recognition of “The Wagner College First-Year Program.”
The award recognizes exceptional faculty development programs that enhance undergraduate teaching and learning.
Before coming to Wagner College, Guarasci was dean at Hobart College from 1992-1997. There he served as a senior officer, and was significantly involved in a highly successful capital campaign that raised $107 million in five years. He has also served as dean at St. Lawrence University.
He is the author of several books and numerous articles.
Guarasci was nominated by Gov. George Pataki to the HESC Board of Trustees and confirmed by the state Senate.
HESC is the nation’s largest in-state student loan guaranty agency and provides more grant and scholarship money to college students than any other state agency in the nation.
The state agency guaranteed more than $6 billion in new and consolidated student loans in state fiscal year 2004-05 and provided $875 million through the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) to more than 395,000 students in academic year 2004-05.
HESC administers New York’s 529 College Savings Program, a nationally-acclaimed program which boasts more than $4 billion in assets, and also handles more than 25 state and federal grants and scholarships.
