President's Cabinet
Mr. William O. Anderson
Chief Information Officer
William Anderson was named Chief Information Officer in 2003, after serving as Special Assistant to the President for Technology in 2002. Bill orchestrates the information technology department commitment to insure a robust technology environment on campus.
Bill joined the Saint Michael's as a faculty member in the business department in 1974, while doing advanced doctoral work in Statistics and Operations Management at the University of Chicago. In 1978, he was inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma honor society. Bill was further recognized as an outstanding professor by students and faculty. He earned Faculty Appreciation and Community Service Awards and the Joanne Rathgeb Award. He served on numerous faculty committees, chairing the curriculum and educational policy committee and faculty welfare committee, and serving by election as a faculty representative to the College’s Board of Trustees.
Bill earned his bachelor's degree in mathematics from Dartmouth and his master's in business administration from Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business in 1974. He co-founded A&M Software from 1983 and sold the firm to a major corporation in 1996. A&M Software, which served 7,000 customers in 50 states with 60 employees, developed and marketed computer software for federally subsidized housing projects. Bill continues to be a tech consultant to several agencies and non-profits.
Bill and his wife Mary Carol, class of 1978, reside in Colchester. Mary Carol is a board operator and announcer at Vermont Public Radio. They have four grown children, Elsa, a librarian at Mt. Sinai Medical School in New York City, Kari, a classical music host on VPR Classical, Nina, a marketing manager at W.P. Carey in New York City, and Will a graduate student in Stavangar, Norway.
Ms. Tara Arcury, P'10
Assistant to the President
Tara Arcury was named Assistant to the President in 2012; she serves as the interface between the President and all internal constituencies at Saint Michael's College, providing high-level support across a broad range of administrative tasks. Currently, Tara also serves as the institution's Accreditation Liaison Officer for the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). Tara first came to Saint Michael’s College in 2001 as administrative assistant to the Graduate Psychology Program and other academic departments. In 2003, she became the Executive Assistant to the Dean of the College. She has served on the Strategic Assessment Taskforce, the Staff Welfare Committee, the Staff Compensation Committee, the Web Redesign Team, Facilities Planning committee, and the Women's Center Committee. Currently she is serving on the Portal Implementation Committee. She was a 2011 recipient of the Distinguished Staff Award in Accomplishment.
Tara is finishing her bachelor's degree here at Saint Michael's in American Studies. She and her husband, Tony, and their daughter, Ashley, reside in Shelburne. Ashley is a 2010 graduate of Saint Michael's.
Ms. Marilyn E. Cormier P'11
Director of Government and Community Relations
Marilyn Cormier, Director of Government and Community Relations, has served as the liaison between the President and a wide range of external organizations since 2000. In her role as Secretary of the Saint Michael's Board of Trustees, she serves as a link between the President and the Board. She also serves as one of four advisors to the Student Association (S.A.), the official governing body of the student community. In addition, she sits on the Board of Directors for Saint Michael's College Fire and Rescue, the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce, Mercy Connections and Greater Burlington YMCA as well as serving as chair of the Vermont Council on World Affairs Board and secretary of the Merrill Cemetery Board. In 2006, Governor Douglas appointed Marilyn to the Lake Champlain Quadricentennial Commission, where she chaired the Commemorative and Events Committee. She is also a past president of Colchester-Milton Rotary, and was named Colchester Rotarian of the Year in 2004 and 2011. In 2006, she received the Vermont Women in Higher Education’s Sister Elizabeth Candon Distinguished Service Award. Marilyn completed the Emily Post Institute's "Train the Trainer" Program in 2008 and Protocol Officer Training at the Protocol School of Washington in 2011.
A native of Sri Lanka and a naturalized American citizen, Marilyn has been with Saint Michael's since 1982, serving first as Executive Secretary to the Vice President for Academic Affairs and then as Assistant to the President before moving into her present position. Through June 2005, she chaired Saint Michael's Centennial Committee and coordinated the College's centenary celebrations. Before coming to Saint Michael's, Marilyn was Executive Secretary to the President of Lockheed Aircraft International A.G. in Saudi Arabia.
Rev. Brian J. Cummings, SSE '86
Director of Edmundite Campus Ministry
Rev. Brian J. Cummings, S.S.E., is Director of Edmundite Campus Ministry. Fr. Brian is an active member of the Society of St. Edmund, and is the leader of the College’s campus ministry program. The eight person Edmundite Campus Ministry staff is a dedicated group of Catholic priests and lay people who provide spiritual guidance and opportunities for spiritual growth for the entire Saint Michael's community. Their expertise ranges from pastoral counseling, to music ministry, to putting faith in action through domestic and international service trips and being there for those who need them.
Fr. Brian is a 1986 graduate of Saint Michael's and a Certified Public Accountant, who worked in both public and private accounting in the New York City/New Jersey area following graduation. He began his formation for religious life and the priesthood in 1990, studying at Loyola University and Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans from 1990 to 1992. He received a Master's of Divinity degree from the Weston Jesuit School of Theology in May, 1996 and was ordained a priest in the Society of St. Edmund in June the same year.
Fr. Brian taught accounting at Saint Michael's during the 1992-93 school year and served as an Instructor in the Department of Business and Accounting from 1996 to 2003. He also was an adjunct Instructor in the Religious Studies Department during the 1996-97 school year. He serves as Chaplain to the SMC Athletic Department, frequently traveling with teams and always supporting them and also as Chaplain of the SMC Fire and Rescue Department. Fr. Brian is fully engaged in student life at Saint Michael's, working with students on campus in various roles, with the Liturgical Choir on tour, and working round the clock as the Director of Edmundite Campus Ministry.
Fr. Brian is also Spiritual Director of St. Anne's Shrine a stunningly beautiful religious and historical site in Isle La Motte on the shores of Lake Champlain. The Shrine has newly constructed overnight accommodations and is the primary location for our campus retreats.
Fr. Brian serves in various positions of leadership in the Society of St. Edmund. He is a member of the General Council which is the governing body of the Society, a member of the Edmundite House Council and also serves as House Treasurer for the Edmundite Community at Saint Michael's. He is a member of the Society's Finance and Audit Committees and serves on the Board of Members for the Edmundite Southern Mission in Selma, Alabama. Fr. Brian also serves the Diocese of Burlington as a member of the Finance Council and has also served on the Diocese's Budget, Audit and Investment Committees as well as the Presbyteral Council, a consultative body of priests which advises the Bishop of Burlington.
Dr. Dawn M. Ellinwood
Vice President for Student Affairs/Dean of Students
Dawn Ellinwood joined the Saint Michael's community in July of 2012 as Vice President for Student Affairs after four years as Dean of Students at Hampshire College. In her first year at the College, Dawn has demonstrated great insight into student needs which she has addressed with endless enthusiasm and rare energy.
Before her work at Hampshire, Dawn was Vice President of Student Affairs/Dean of Students from 1996-2008 at College of Our Lady of the Elms in Chicopee, MA. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree, cum laude, from Northeastern University in 1987; a Master of Public Administration degree from Northeastern in 1989; a Master of Education degree from Northeastern, earned the Dedicated Advocate Award, in 1992; and a Doctor of Education degree from the University of Massachusetts in campus curriculum/educational leadership in 2003. Dawn was residence director and then area director at UMass, Amherst from 1994-1996. From 1993 to 1994 she was the assistant program director for the Doctor Franklin Perkins School; residence director at Clark University from 1991 to 1994, and residence director at Northeastern from 1989 to 1991. Dawn served on numerous college committees, including the Hampshire College Strategic Planning Task Force and the Tobacco Task Force, leading both in the role of chair-person. She served on the board of Homework House, the parent advisory council of Hampshire College Children's Center, and as a volunteer with Big Brother Big Sister from 1996 to 2007.
Dawn is married to Peter Ferguson, who is Manager of Network Operations for Residential Life at the University of Massachusetts. They have a daughter, Grace, and they reside in Williston.
Mr. Patrick J. Gallivan '89
Vice President for Institutional Advancement
Patrick J. Gallivan was named Vice President for Institutional Advancement in 2009. He had been serving as director for alumni and parent relations, a position he has held since 1998. He directs a staff of professionals engaged in development and alumni affairs for the College. He works closely with the Saint Michael’s family of alumni, parents and friends engaging them in the life of the College.
A 1989 graduate of Saint Michael's, with a political science major and philosophy minor, Patrick served as president of the student association his senior year. He joined the College staff upon graduation as an admission counselor, coordinating alumni-admission work from 1989 to 1991, then serving as assistant director of admission from 1991 to 1993, and associate director of admission from 1993 to 1998, at which time he became director for alumni and parent relations.
Patrick served as a member of the board of trustees of Burlington College from 2001 to 2011, five of those years as Chair. He also chaired the Summer Workshop on College Admission Counseling for the New England Association for College Admission Counseling in 1997 and 1998. From 1992 to 2011, he served as moderator of the SMC Student Association as well as a number of regional admission officer councils. Currently he sits of the CASE (Council for the Advancement and Support of Education) District 1 Board of Directors.
Mr. Gallivan has been a volunteer for Camp TA-KUM-TA for children with cancer, since 1995, serving on the board since 1997, currently board Vice President. He also served on the steering committee of the Burlington Irish Heritage Festival from 1997 to 2003, as chair in 2000 and 2001. Gallivan has been recognized for his service to the community by the Lake Champlain Chamber of Commerce with their Community Excellence Award.
Dr. Sarah Kelly
Vice President for Enrollment
Sarah Kelly joined Saint Michael’s College as Vice President for Enrollment in September 2013 after serving as Vice President for Enrollment Management and Dean of Students at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio.
At Wittenberg from 2008 to 2013, first in student affairs and then in student affairs and enrollment, Sarah was responsible for all enrollment-related strategy, including developing communications, cultivating new markets, coordinating financial aid awards, analyzing enrollment data, and creating yield strategies. She managed professional staff of 38 in areas of admission, financial aid, and student life, and a budget of several million dollars. Her time there resulted in major growth in applications, increases in net tuition revenue and, in 2011 enrollment of the largest class of new students since 2007.
Sarah was Assistant and then Associate Vice President for Student Development at Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio, from 2000 to 2007, and was director of the Learning Assistance Center at Xavier from 1997 to 2000. She was also an adjunct instructor in the departments of Teacher Education and English at Miami University, 1993 to 2001. She has given numerous presentations at conferences and meetings, to large groups and small, on such topics as managing diversity in student affairs, the role of institutional mission in higher education, internal marketing and branding in higher education, and other topics.
Sarah earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy and English literature in 1987 and a master's degree in secondary English education in 1991, both from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She earned a doctorate in Higher Education Administration from Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, in 2004, with a dissertation titled Jesuit from the Inside Out: Faculty, Staff and Administrators' Perception of the Jesuit Brand of higher Education.
Kelly and her husband, James Kelly, who retired from the philosophy faculty of Miami University, have a daughter, Nora, who resides in Chicago.
Dr. Buff Lindau
Director of Marketing and Communications
Buff Lindau is Director of Marketing and Communications since 2009, after briefly serving as interim marketing director. In this position, she has continued to write, design and produce a weekly e-newsletter for the College community - faculty, staff, students, alumni, parents, and select media representatives. She has coordinated the team that brought a new web design online, new Google-style campus map online, videos, a quarterly magazine, admissions brochures, and continued media attention to the College. Buff started at Saint Michael's as an adjunct professor in the English Department in 1979. At the same time, she was named coordinator of the SMC Women & Society Symposium, probably the first academic women’s studies symposium held in the U.S. It garnered coverage by The New York Times, and overflow attendance for its three-day duration. She was appointed Public Relations Director in 1980. In that position, she developed a robust relationship with Vermont media and regional media outlets. She spoke at professional CASE conferences and earned CASE awards for the bi-monthly newsletter Founders Hall that she wrote and edited for more than a decade as the primary communications link with Saint Michael's alumni. In the past, she taught public relations in the SMC Master of Science in Administration program.
Buff earned a bachelor's degree in English literature from Goucher College, and master's and doctoral degrees in English from the University of South Carolina.
Buff has served as a member of the board of the Vermont Chapter of the American Red Cross, and currently serves on the board of the Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival. She has published poems in a number of literary journals and continues to apply herself to that endeavor most every early morning.
Buff and her husband Huck Gutman, Professor of English at the University of Vermont and former Chief of Staff for Senator Bernie Sanders, have two children and one grandchild.
Mr. Michael J. New P'07
Vice President for Human Resources and Administrative Services
Michael New, Vice President for Human Resources and Administrative Services, joined the Saint Michael's community in 2001 and has been an integral part of College leadership ever since. Mike manages a wide range of work arenas on the Saint Michael's campus with insight and experience. Prior to joining Saint Michael's College, Mike was Vice President, Human Resources at Lane Press from 2000-2001, and Senior Vice President, Managing Director, Human Resources, for Banknorth Group from 1996 to 2000. He served as Vice President for Human Resources for Prudential Resources Management from 1990 to 1995 and as Director of Employee Relations/Employment for Merrill Lynch Realty from 1983 to 1990. He held a number of increasingly responsible positions as manager of Human Resources at The Perkin-Elmer Corporation, from 1977 to 1983. Mike attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, serving from 1974 to 1997.
Mike earned his bachelor of business administration degree from St. Bonaventure University and his master of public administration degree from Western Kentucky University. He was an adjunct faculty member with Norwich University’s MBA program from 2001 through 2008.
Mike chairs the board of Vermont's COTS (Committee on Temporary Shelter), and serves on the board of the Fanny Allen (Hospital) Foundation. He is also the Chair of the Board of Trustees for Mt. Irenaeus, Franciscan Mountain Retreat (affiliated with Saint Bonaventure University). He is a volunteer fire fighter for his town of Monkton. He has run the New York City Marathon three times and continues to be a dedicated runner most every day.
Mike and his wife Patti have two grown daughters, and live in Monkton, Vermont with their menagerie of farm animals.
Mr. Neal E. Robinson P'05
Vice President for Finance
Neal Robinson, Vice President for Finance, rejoined Saint Michael's in 2010, having served previously in that position from 1999 to 2007. He worked for Vermont Electric Power Company (VELCO) prior to returning to the College. Neal is cited for sound, careful management of the College's finances in a period of challenge for higher education. He brought 30 years of financial management experience to the College including 15 years with Banknorth Group.
Neal was senior VP and treasurer and chief accounting officer for Banknorth Group in Burlington from 1989-99; and was controller, senior VP and chief financial officer for Banknorth and Vermont Bank & Trust Company in Brattleboro from 1984-89. He worked four years in banking in Ithaca, NY, and served as assistant bursar and director of student loans at Cornell University from 1975-78.
Neal has a bachelor's degree from Ithaca College and an MBA degree from Cornell University.
Neal is a former trustee of the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont, treasurer of St. James Episcopal Church in Essex and a board member and treasurer of the Cancer Patient Support Program in Burlington. He and his wife, Karen, reside in Essex. They are the parents of two grown children, Cameron and Leslie. Leslie is a 2005 graduate of Saint Michael's.
Dr. Karen A. Talentino
Vice President for Academic Affairs
Dr. Karen A. Talentino was named Vice President for Academic Affairs in 2008. Karen has over 35 years of experience as a faculty member and academic administrator. She began her academic career as a faculty member in the Department of Biology at Simmons College in Boston in 1977. She received tenure at Simmons and was promoted to Professor in 1990. She came up through the ranks at Simmons College as a faculty member, department chair and faculty leader.
She was asked to serve as the college's first Dean of Faculty in 1995. That appointment led to a position as Interim Dean of the College. In 2002, Karen became Dean of Faculty at Stonehill College, in Easton, Massachusetts, where she continued to teach courses in Biology and Environmental Science, until coming to Saint Michael's College in 2008.
As Vice President for Academic Affairs, Karen has oversight for all aspects of the academic program – faculty hiring and development, curriculum, assessment and accreditation, library services, Registrar's Office, academic support services, study abroad and career services. She has received several grants while at Saint Michael's, to support the renovation of labs, assessment, and creation of an Academic Resource Center in the Durick Library. She maintains her contact with students by continuing to teach in both the Biology and Environmental Studies programs.
Karen earned a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and master's and doctoral degrees in zoology from the University of Nevada, Reno. Her graduate work involved a study of hibernation in ground squirrels.
Karen and her husband William Talentino, who recently retired as director of the Goodnow Public Library in Sudbury, MA, have two grown children, Michael and Rachel. They live in Burlington, VT, close to Lake Champlain. They make the most of living in beautiful Vermont, and enjoy hiking, biking and kayaking.