Senior Staff

In his role as Dean of the College, Gustavo Burkett oversees the student experience, including academic advising, student success, multicultural affairs, residential life, civic engagement, health and counseling services, the office of the Dean of Students, and Colby’s signature program for facilitated and funded research, internship, and global experiences, DavisConnects. Originally from Argentina, he first lived in Maine as a high-school exchange student and later earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from University of Maine. He is currently completing his Ph.D. at University of Massachusetts, Boston. Prior to Colby, Burkett served in leadership roles at University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Boston College, and most recently, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Gustavo Burkett’s career trajectory and diverse experiences have shaped him into an influential professional in higher education. With a breadth of expertise in many areas of higher education administration, he continues to make significant contributions to the field, inspire students, and drive positive change.

As vice president and chief of staff, Ruth Jackson oversees the coordination and implementation of key strategic priorities and special projects across multiple areas of the College. She partners with colleagues across campus to ensure alignment and optimal progress on Colby’s full set of ambitious initiatives. A Maine native and a graduate of Brandeis University and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, Jackson worked in positions of increasing responsibility in the Office of Communications at Colby from 2004-2019, when she moved from serving as vice president for communications to her current role.

As Colby’s chief academic officer, Provost and Dean of Faculty and Professor of American Studies Margaret T. McFadden supervises academic departments and programs and oversees curricular development and the faculty appointment and review processes. Chairs of departments, directors of interdisciplinary programs, the Colby Libraries and Athletics, as well as the offices of Off-Campus Study, the Registrar, Institutional Research, the Colby Writing Program, and the Center for Teaching and Learning are responsible to the provost and dean of faculty. McFadden joined the Colby faculty in 1996 and was previously associate provost. Her service to the Colby community includes, most recently, chairing the Distribution Requirements Task Force and serving on major College committees such as the Committee on Mission and Priorities and the Committee on Promotion and Tenure. She also helped lead the establishment of new initiatives, including the Center for the Arts and Humanities, the program in environmental humanities, and the Cinema Studies Program. Her work reflects her long commitment to engaged scholarship and a fully inclusive academic environment, the latter reflected in her service on Colby’s Task Force on Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity. She has won teaching prizes at Colby and at Yale, where she earned her Ph.D. following undergraduate work at Wells College. As a scholar, McFadden has explored the representation of gender, race, class, and sexuality in American popular culture, from the 1930s to the present day. Her most recent book, The L Word, was published in 2014, and she is now at work on a project on gender and comedy in the 1970s.

Senior Vice President Matthew T. Proto is responsible for leading admissions, advancement, communications, and first-year financial aid for the College. Prior to joining the Colby community in May 2015 he served as assistant dean of admissions at Stanford University. Proto has benefited from working in multiple admissions roles, having served as director of scholar selection for the Morehead-Cain Scholars program, associate director of admission and college counseling at Choate Rosemary Hall, and assistant director of admission at Yale University. A graduate of Yale University, Proto earned a master of liberal studies degree at Wesleyan University and a doctorate in educational leadership at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Jacqueline Terrassa is the Carolyn Muzzy Director at the Colby College Museum of Art where she is responsible for leading one of the country’s most notable academic museums, setting strategy, raising the museum’s visibility, and expanding its impact for Colby, our local Waterville and regional communities, and audiences who find value in the museum’s content and educational mission. Terrassa works closely with colleagues across the institution as well as with the Museum’s Board of Governors, partners, and community leaders to realize the goals of the museum for mutual benefit. The Colby Museum counts with a distinguished collection, exhibitions, publications and academic, public and community engagement programs, as well as with the Lunder Institute for American Art, an incubator for pathbreaking collaborative research, artistic practice and mentorship in the field. From her role at Colby, she advocates for the value of art and artists in our society and seeks opportunities to expand equitable access to cultural resources, build and enrich communities with the arts as catalyst, and empower people to think critically, produce new knowledge, imagine, and create. Prior to joining the Colby Museum in August 2020, she served as the Woman’s Board Vice President for Learning and Public Engagement at Art Institute of Chicago and held leadership and education positions at The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the Smithsonian’s Freer and Sackler Galleries; the University of Chicago’s Smart Museum of Art; and the Hyde Park Art Center. From 2011 to 2015 she co-directed the Museum Education Division of the National Art Education Association. She has worked on projects with a range of artists and written about artists and approaches to museum-based engagement. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, she received her BFA at Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, and her MFA at the University of Chicago.

As vice president and chief financial officer, Nicole Trufant oversees the College’s finance strategies and operations, including investments, student financial services and planning, budget management, facilities, and information technology services. Prior to Colby, she served as senior vice president of finance and administration at the University of New England. Trufant is immediate past chair of the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO), the leading national professional organization dedicated to promoting best practices among higher education business and finance professionals. A certified public accountant, Trufant graduated magna cum laude from the University of Southern Maine with a B.S. in accounting and a B.A. in sociology. She received an M.S. in management from New England College and a certificate in executive management from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education.

As vice president, general counsel, and secretary of the College, Richard Uchida ’79 is the principal liaison to the Board of Trustees and promotes, facilitates, and supports governance practices across the College to further its long-range strategic interests. He also serves as the College’s chief legal affairs officer, representing the College on legal and regulatory issues, providing a range of legal and risk management services, and overseeing the College’s work with outside counsel. Prior to Colby, Uchida was a partner in Hinckley, Allen & Snyder, a law firm with offices in Concord, N.H., Boston, Hartford, Albany, New York City, and Providence. He was vice chair of Colby’s Board of Trustees, past chair of the Educational Policy Committee, and vice chair of the Athletics Subcommittee. He earned his law degree from the University of New Hampshire School of Law, formerly Franklin Pierce Law Center, where he was an adjunct professor and a trustee until the merger with UNH. He was a member of Colby’s 2013 presidential search committee.