Dr. Mark Rubinstein, president of Granite State College (GSC), will be the next chancellor of the Community College System of NH (CCSNH). Rubinstein was chosen through a search process chaired by Kathy Bogle Shields, chair of the CCSNH Board of Trustees.
Rubinstein has served as cpresident of Granite State College since 2015. Like NH’s community colleges, GSC is focused on meeting the educational needs of NH residents, particularly working adults, and is one of the strongest transfer partners for CCSNH.
“We are thrilled to appoint Mark Rubinstein to be the next chancellor of the Community College System of New Hampshire,” says Bogle Shields. “Mark is uniquely positioned to be the next leader of the system as we look to sustain our high level of service to our students, the state and our communities. Mark contributed to Granite State College being one of the most transfer-friendly institutions for community college graduates, helping hundreds of students every year to cost-effectively continue their education at the baccalaureate level while simultaneously advancing professionally. He has also been a key partner in identifying cost-saving and student-serving ways for NH’s public higher education institutions to work collaboratively on areas such as academic pathways, shared contracts and common software platforms. We know that Mark will embrace the CCSNH mission of providing affordable, market-driven, quality education in our local communities.”
As president of GSC, Rubinstein has focused on the quality and efficacy of academic programs, better alignment with the needs of the State’s workforce and its communities, and pursuit of greater affordability to support the institution’s access mission.
“Ultimately, I believe those are the essential elements for the future of public higher education,” says Rubinstein. “At the macro-level, demographic, economic and technology trends all point to the need for a more dynamic workforce. At the micro-level, the human level, people’s interests and circumstances and needs change. From either perspective, the clear implication is that New Hampshire and its citizens require the support of effective, responsive public postsecondary education. My time at GSC has been helpful to my understanding of these needs, and to connecting me to the work of the Community College System of NH, and I am grateful to the Community College System of NH for now allowing me to serve in this role and to build on that strong foundation.”
CCSNH serves approximately 26,000 students across the state and offers the lowest-cost college tuition in NH. The seven community colleges partner with employers in all regions of NH to build educational programs that meet workforce needs, and provide opportunities for transfer to four-year colleges and universities. In recent years CCSNH has developed several specialized workforce pathways, including apprenticeships and short-term programs that help NH residents build skills for professional advancement in high-demand fields. CCSNH has also increased the number of NH high school students who take courses for college credit, especially in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields. For the Fall semester, CCSNH has partnered with the NH Charitable Foundation to offer a free course to all high school graduates from the class of ’21, helping to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on the lives of this year’s high school seniors.
Prior to becoming president of GSC, Rubinstein had held a number of positions at the University of NH in Durham, including vice president for student & academic services, interim vice president for university advancement, and roles within admissions, financial aid and the university’s advising and career center. He began his career at Pennsylvania State University and the University of South Florida before moving to New Hampshire in 1998.
Rubinstein will begin Sept.1, taking over from Dr. Susan Huard who previously announced her plans to retire.
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