GODDARD PRESIDENT REDEFINES SCHOOL'S GOAL
PLAINFIELD -- The new president of Goddard College said he believes the college has an ethical and economic obligation to get more involved in Vermont.
Richard Greene, who took over as president of the small liberal college about a month ago, said he was surprised to learn that the school gets more admissions inquiries from California than it does from Vermont.
"I want to get Goddard more involved in Vermont, and Vermonters more involved in Goddard," Greene said in an interview last week.
Greene, a Massachusetts native who left his post as president of St. Thomas University, in Miami, Fla., to take the job at Goddard, said he planned to increase the college's visibility in Vermont through advertising and other forms of promotion.
"I'd like to work with the selectmen in Plainfield to develop programs that would help the community, and invite residents to events at the college," Greene said.
Greene said he hoped to develop master's and doctoral programs at Goddard and restore the condition of the school's historic 250-acre campus. Goddard has virtually no endowment. Greene said he would like to get it up to between $2 million and $3 million before he leaves.
He said he had no plans to raise tuition at Goddard -- a 4- to 6-percent raise was approved by the school's board of trustees in February -- but said he planned to take a hard look at the issue later.
Goddard College, which was founded as a seminary in Barre in 1863, began offering college level courses after moving to its current location in 1938.
"I want to get Goddard more involved in Vermont, and Vermonters more involved in Goddard."
RICHARD GREENE, new Goddard College president
