Updated: 7/8/2021 3:50 p.m.
VESTAL, NY (WSKG) — Ithaca College President Shirley Collado will step down at the end of 2021.
The private institution’s board of trustees announced the resignation on Thursday. Collado will step down as president, but will remain at the college as a “senior advisor” to Provost Terry La Jerne Cornish, who has been appointed to serve as interim president until the end of 2021.
“The board will also be taking this time to thoughtfully consider and evaluate the best approach to planning for the next Ithaca College president,” Board Chair David Lissy and Vice Chair Jim Nolan wrote in a statement posted to the college’s website Thursday morning.
Collado has been appointed CEO of CollegeTrack, a California-based non-profit organization focused on helping disadvantaged students complete college degree programs. The former CEO of CollegeTrack reported a yearlycompensation of $253,000, meaning Collado is likely to take a substantial pay cut from her $584,000 yearly compensation at Ithaca College.
Having been appointed to the role in 2018, Collado will be the shortest tenured president in Ithaca College’s 129-year history.
Collado stirred controversy after the Ithacan, Ithaca College's student newspaper, reported she pleaded no-contest, effectively admitting guilt,* to sexually abusing a patient while a psychologist in Washington, D.C. in 2001. Despite coming to light at the height of the #MeToo movement, Collado remained in the role.
Ithaca College has struggled to retain administrators and senior staff during Collado’s tenure. Three deans are currently serving on an interim basis and several senior administrators, including the Vice President of Business and Finance, have departed in the last year. The college also eliminated the equivalent of 116 full-time faculty positions earlier this year, although Collado maintains that change was made as part of the college’s strategic plan and not as a result of its financial situation.
The college’s media relations office did not respond to immediate request for further comment on Thursday afternoon.
*This story has been updated to clarify that Collado pleaded no-contest.