On Tuesday (May 29), Tusculum College welcomed Tennessee Technological University President Emeritus Dr. Angelo Volpe as temporary Acting President of Tusculum College in the absence of President Dr. Dolphus Henry.
Dr. Henry began a leave of absence last week. Since Monday, the president’s duties have been covered by Provost and Academic Vice President Dr. Kimberly Estep, but on Tuesday, Dr. Volpe, a member of the Tusculum College Board of Trustees, will take on the acting president role until mid-June.
When Dr. Volpe’s service period is completed, another trustee with presidential experience in higher education will act as president at Tusculum College for approximately another month. He is Dr. Edward Kormondy, retired as Chancellor Emeritus and professor of biology at the University of Hawaii-Hilo and at the University of Hawaii-West Oahu. After retirement, Dr. Kormondy served as Interim President of the University of West Los Angeles School of Law.
Board Chairman Dr. Ken Bowman, said Tusculum College is extremely fortunate to have two highly qualified, distinguished and dedicated trustees to serve the College through this transition period.
While Tusculum College is under trustee leadership, a search will be conducted for a longer-term Interim President to take over executive duties. Drs. Volpe and Kormondy will continue to share the presidential duties until a full-time Interim President can be on campus.
Tusculum College is consulting with the Registry for College and University Presidents to provide an Interim President. That organization is made up of retired college and university presidents who are willing to take on interim presidencies during transitional periods such as that now facing Tusculum College.
The Registry, according to its web site, has contracts with more than former college and university presidents and more than 50 senior administrators, all of whom have been selected for membership based upon nominations and pre-screening evaluations.
VOLPE BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Angelo Volpe is retired President Emeritus of Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville. He also taught chemistry at TTU.
In the 1980s, Dr. Volpe, a New York native, was vice chancellor for academic affairs and professor of chemistry at East Carolina University. He has also been dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at East Carolina and a teacher of chemistry at East Carolina and the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. He received his doctorate from the University of Maryland and was a research chemist in the U.S. Naval Ordnance Laboratory in the 1960s. He is active in professional organizations and is extensively published in scholarly journals.
He and his wife, Jennette, live in Cookeville. The Tennessee Tech library is named in their honor as the Angelo and Jennette Volpe Library and Media Center
Dr. Volpe joined the Tusculum College Board of Trustees in 2005. His initial interest in Tusculum College derived from his friendship with Dr. Tom Garland, himself a former Interim President of the college. Garland headed the Tennessee State Board of Regents at the time Dr. Volpe was hired as president of Tennessee Tech. Drs. Volpe and Garland today work together as trustees of Tusculum College.
KORMONDY BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Edward Kormondy lives in Los Angeles and is in his second period of service as a trustee of Tusculum College. He was a trustee previously from 1970 through 1972, then rejoined the board in 1998.
Dr. Kormondy received his undergraduate degree at Tusculum College in 1950, then earned a master’s degree and doctoral degree from the University of Michigan.
In addition to his work with the University of Hawaii system, he has served in administrative and/or academic roles at the University of Michigan, Oberlin College, the University of Pittsburgh, Evergreen State College, the University of Southern Maine and California State University-Los Angeles.
Dr. Kormondy is known at Tusculum College for his faithful attendance at trustee meetings and other college functions despite the long distance between Los Angeles and Greeneville. He has been active on board committees and is currently the board’s vice chairman.
He has written and edited textbooks in biology and is a noted writer/editor even beyond the field of biology. He is currently completing preparation of a book profiling college and university presidents who have transformed the institutions they served. One of those profiled is former Tusculum College President Dr. Robert Knott.