Former House Majority Leader Caruolo Named Chairman
Providence, R.I. – Governor Lincoln D. Chafee today announced the appointment of four Rhode Islanders to the Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education. The Governor also announced that he will keep four members of the current Board, retaining two and reappointing one, while a fourth will continue to serve in her current term.
“I believe that the Board of Regents is a critically important link between the community at large and our state’s education policy-making,” Governor Chafee said. “Therefore, these announced appointees reflect my efforts to bring both diversity and new perspectives to the critical task of ensuring the best possible education for our children.”
George D. Caruolo, an attorney and former Majority Leader of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, will serve as the Board’s Chairman.
“During his time as a state representative, George earned a reputation as an active participant in our state’s efforts to improve public education,” Governor Chafee said. “I look forward to the energy, knowledge, and experience he will bring to the Chairmanship of the Board of Regents. George’s four children went through the Rhode Island public school system, and he is committed to joining me in my quest to make our state’s public schools the finest in the nation. I believe that this should be our continuing goal.”
The Governor also appointed Carolina B. Bernal, Robert L. Carothers, and Mathies J. Santos to the Board.
“Carolina, Dr. Carothers, and Mat each bring a unique perspective on education issues, and, collectively, they possess a great deal of experience and familiarity with all levels of our state’s public education system,” Governor Chafee continued. “Their presence on the Board of Regents will yield an important diversity of perspectives that will encourage productive, active discussion and thoughtful decision-making.”
The Governor also announced that he will retain Vice-Chairman of the Board Patrick A. Guida and Secretary Colleen A. Callahan, and will re-appoint Karin L. Forbes. Betsy P. Shimberg will continue to serve as a board member.
The Board of Regents is the chief policy-setting body overseeing elementary and secondary education in Rhode Island. Through its designated powers and duties, the Board helps shape the course of public education to ensure that all of the state's children receive the best possible education.
Biographies
George D. Caruolo
George D. Caruolo is an attorney in private practice, formerly with the firms of Caruolo & Conley and Brown, Rudnick, Berlack & Israels.
Caruolo was a member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives from 1981 to 1998, representing District 86, and served as House Majority Leader from 1993 to 1998. While a state representative, Caruolo was a champion of education reform and sponsored passage of the so-called “Caruolo Act,” which established a mechanism for the resolution of budget disputes between school committees and the appropriating branch of the municipal governments. Among his many legislative accomplishments is the creation of the Legislative Policy Office, which he oversaw, as well as his role as principal leadership negotiator for five state budgets, including several with significant deficit percentages.
In his long and diverse career, Caruolo has also worked as an arbitrator with the Rhode Island Department of Education, focusing on disputes involving special needs students; as a hearing officer for the City of East Providence; as an Assistant Public Defender for the State of Rhode Island; as Director of the Inmate Legal Assistance Project; and as a Rhode Island Justice of the Peace/Bail Commissioner.
Caruolo is a graduate of Harvard College and Suffolk University Law School, is a member of the Rhode Island Bar, and serves on the Board of Lifespan, Rhode Island’s largest health system and private employer. He is married with four children, all of whom attended East Providence High School.
Carolina B. Bernal
Carolina Baque Bernal, of East Providence, was born in Ecuador, and has been residing in the United States since 1987. She received her Associate’s Degree in Arts from the Community College of Rhode Island, and most recently graduated from Springfield College with a B.S. in Human Services.
Bernal currently serves as Program Director at the Institute for Labor Studies, where she oversees the Immigrant Workers’ Rights Project, the Workers’ Compensation Public Education Campaign, the Health and Safety on the Job program for high school students, teachers, and adults, and the Leadership for a Future training program for community, labor and religious leaders.
Prior to her current position, Bernal worked as a community organizer for Progreso Latino/the United Workers Committee, the International Institute of Rhode Island and Travelers Aid. She has been a strong activist for workers’ rights for over ten years and has worked with other organizations in the areas of immigration, advocacy and health.
Bernal has been a past member of the Board of Directors of CHisPA, past co-chair of Jobs with Justice, and past treasurer of the RI Coalition of Immigrants &Refugees. She currently serves on the United Way Community Advisory Board, Delta Dental Corporate Members, Labor History Society and the Boys & Girls Club of East Providence. She is also a graduate of the Rhode Island Foundation Fellowship Class of 2001 and Leadership Rhode Island Class of 2001.
Colleen A. Callahan
A former sixth-grade and special education teacher in Lincoln, Rhode Island, with 21 years of classroom experience, Colleen Callahan currently serves as the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals (RIFTHP) Professional Issues Director. As Director of Professional Issues, Dr. Callahan coordinates the organizations professional development networks, including its statewide Education Research & Dissemination and Redesigning Schools Networks and its partnerships with institutions of higher education. She is responsible for direct service to members through coursework and on-site presentations and assists local union leaders in negotiating for and supporting professional issues and school-improvement initiatives.
Dr. Callahan works regularly with the Rhode Island Department of Education and other state agencies on education policy and represents the RIFTHP on numerous state and national boards and commissions including the RI College Crusade and the Northeast Regional Education Labs Boards of Directors.
Dr. Callahan has serving as the program director for the RIFTHP/AFTs Innovation Fund initiative on teacher evaluation, working with labor-management teams from six RI urban districts, national experts, and RIDE to create a model teacher evaluation and support system.
Dr. Callahan serves as Secretary of the RI Board of Regents and has chaired the Boards Committees on Academic and Student Programs and Secondary Regulations. She holds Bachelors and Masters degrees from Rhode Island College and recently earned an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from Johnson and Wales University.
Robert L. Carothers
During his tenure as the 10th president of the University of Rhode Island, Robert L. Carothers initiated a series of progressive changes to the University 's structure, infrastructure, and curriculum.
During his time as president, the University increased enrollment of the best and brightest students in the state and region, improved its physical campus environment, increased diversity among students, faculty and staff, and enhanced its levels of alumni, corporate, and state support. He also worked to forge links with universities and agencies around the world to foster collaborations in the academic, business and public policy arenas.
Dr. Carothers' determination to transform URI led to positive national recognition, including The Princeton Review naming the University a "college with a conscience" in the spring of 2005 and URI being featured in The Princeton Review's Colleges with a Conscience: 81 Great Schools with Outstanding Community Involvement.
Before his position at URI, Dr. Carothers served as chancellor of the Minnesota State University system and as president of Minnesota’s Southwest State University. He holds a B.A. in English from Edinboro University in Pennsylvania, a Ph.D. from Kent State University, and a J.D. from the University of Akron’s McDowell School of Law.
In 2005, Dr. Carothers was honored at the annual meeting of the American Council on Education, in Washington, D.C., where he received the first Council of Fellows Outstanding Mentor Award. He is also the recipient of the President's Leadership Group Award from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism for establishing some of the most comprehensive alcohol abuse programs in American higher education. In 2008, Dr. Carothers received the Eleanor M. McMahon Award for Lifetime Achievement from The New England Board of Higher Education in recognition of his achievements at URI and his career as an innovator in higher education.
Dr. Carothers is active on the boards of many civic and professional organizations, including the Leadership Council of the American Council on Education, Citizens Bank, the National Conference for Community and Justice, and the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council.
Karin L. Forbes
Karin L. Forbes is the former Vice-Chair of the North Kingstown School Committee. As part of her duties, she was the Chair of the Policy Subcommittee. Mrs. Forbes was a teacher in East Greenwich from 1968-78. While she was raising her two children, she became involved in her community’s educational efforts. Forbes has been involved with North Kingstown’s Technology and Curriculum Committees, and worked with the North Kingstown High School community to put forward the Annenberg Institute on Secondary School Reform Breaking Ranks. She has also been involved in the Wickford Middle School Advisory Committee and the North Kingstown Rotary Club, where she is a past president. She was appointed to the Board of Regents in 2005. She is currently the Chair of the Board of Regents Education Quality Committee.
Patrick A. Guida
Patrick A. Guida is an attorney with Duffy & Sweeney, Ltd., and formerly with the Providence law firm of Tillinghast Licht LLP. He and his wife live in Barrington, Rhode Island, where each of their children attended the public schools.
Guida received his B.A. from Union College and his J.D. degree from Case Western Reserve University, where he served as editor of the Law Review. He was elected to the Barrington School Committee in 1996 and began serving as its Chairman in 1998. In 1999 he was elected to the Executive Committee of the Rhode Island Association of School Committees (RIASC). He was first elected as an officer of RIASC in 2000, was elected President in 2002, and re-elected the following year.
Guida was appointed to the Board of Regents in 2001, and elected its Vice-Chair in 2005, and has served as Chairman of its Progressive Support and Intervention Committee. At the national level, Mr. Guida has represented the State of Rhode Island at the National School Board Association (NSBA) National Delegate Assembly since 2000 and has served as the Northeast Region Representative on both the National Nominating Committee and Policies and Resolutions Committee of NSBA.
Mathies J. Santos
Mathies J. Santos is currently the Outreach Associate for Rhode Island at the Boston Veteran Affairs Research Institute (BVARI).
Santos previously held a number of positions with the Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, including: Executive Assistant to the Commissioner/Director of Equity and Access; Executive Assistant to the Commissioner/Legislative Liaison and Administrator for the Commissioner’s Legal Office; Project Director for the National Origin Desegregation Program; and Consultant for Program Development.
From 1974 to 1980, Santos worked in a number of offices at Rhode Island College, including Residential Life, Student Activities, Financial Aid, and Career Development. Santos then served as Governor Edward D. DiPrete’s Senior Policy Analyst for Education, Economic Development, Military Affairs, and Minority Affairs, and as Executive Assistant to the Director of the Department of Administration.
From 2002 to 2010, Santos, a member of the Air National Guard, served in a number of positions at the Rhode Island National Guard (RING), including: Project Director for the Ocean State Youth ChalleNGe Academy Program; State Family Program Director; State Equal Employment Manager; and Management Control Analyst for the Office of the Executive Director of Employer Support.
Santos is a graduate of Brown University, where he earned a B.A. in Secondary Education and Italian Studies, and Rhode Island College, where he earned a B.A. in Managerial Economics. He is a City Year Rhode Island mentor, is involved with Brown’s ALANA mentoring program, and is a past member of the Board of Governors of the Providence Boys & Girls Club.
Betsy P. Shimberg
Betsy Shimberg has worked with social service, education, and civil rights non-profit organizations in Boston, New York City, Trenton, and Providence. She has experience as a manager, policy advocate, fundraiser, and board member and as a volunteer tutor for functionally illiterate adults.
Shimberg moved with her family to Rhode Island in 2001. She has been an active volunteer in the East Greenwich schools and most recently was the Co-President of the Frenchtown Elementary School Parent-Teacher Group. For seven years, she was the Vice-Chair of the board of Youth in Action, a Providence youth leadership development organization. She formerly served on the board of the Paul Cuffee School, a maritime charter public school in Providence. She was appointed to the Rhode Island Board of Regents in 2008.
Ms. Shimberg received her Bachelor of Arts degree in history, magna cum laude, from Wellesley College in 1990. She is a graduate of Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, where she earned a Masters degree in Public Administration in 1997. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Ms. Shimberg and her husband, Ken, live with their two children in East Greenwich.