College Leadership

Karlene Burrell-McRae '94

Dean of the College

Dean of the College Karlene Burrell-McRae works collaboratively with the president, senior officers, and faculty to provide leadership and promote the vision of a fully integrated student experience, combining the curricular and cocurricular dimensions of student life illuminating the connection between students’ intellectual and personal development. Dean Burrell-McRae leads new and existing initiatives to foster a diverse and inclusive community. Finally, in partnership with faculty, she spearheads Colby’s civic engagement efforts. Most recently she was the associate dean of students and executive director of the Center for Identity + Inclusion, which included the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs, the LGBTQ Student Life Office, and the Office of Student Support Services, which focused on first generation, lower income, and undocumented students’ experiences. Previously, she served as the assistant dean of college and director of Black Cultural Center at Swarthmore College. Prior to Swarthmore, Dean Burrell-McRae spent 18 years at the University of Pennsylvania, where she held numerous positions with increasing responsibility within the Division of University Life, including her role as the inaugural director of Makuu, the university’s Black cultural center. A self-described community builder and collaborator, she earned a doctorate in higher education, a master’s in social work, and a master’s of science in education from the University of Pennsylvania. She is a 1994 alumna of Colby and majored in anthropology.

Brian J. Clark

Vice President of Planning

As vice president of planning, Brian Clark plays a key role in ensuring that Colby fully supports its academic and cocurricular programs, and he leads the College’s outreach to the community, in Waterville and beyond. He came to Colby in 2014 as assistant to the president and director of planning, a senior staff position. In that capacity he worked closely with President Greene, senior leadership, the Board of Trustees, and internal and external stakeholders to organize and support the College’s efforts to develop and implement long-range and strategic planning. His efforts on Colby’s ambitious plan to help revitalize downtown Waterville have helped launch multiple projects on and around Main Street that have attracted attention across Maine and the northeast. Before coming to Colby he spent seven years at the University of Chicago in a variety of roles, finally as associate director for strategy and planning in the university’s Office of the President. A Maine native, Clark earned a bachelor’s degree in government and law and in art history from Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., and a master of public policy and organizational management degree from the Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine.

Tayo Clyburn

Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Tayo Clyburn joined Colby as the inaugural dean of diversity, equity, and inclusion in August 2020. Prior to joining Colby, he served as vice president of inclusive diversity and equity and chief diversity officer at St. Mary’s College of Maryland (SMCM), where his role was cross-functional, interfacing with senior leaders and other members of the campus community to strategically integrate inclusive and equitable practices across the staff, student, and faculty experiences.

Prior to joining SMCM, Clyburn was executive director for mission and strategic partnerships in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) at The Ohio State University. He joined ODI in 2010 and worked to establish collaborative diversity initiatives, facilitating relationships between ODI and academic and services units, as well as partners throughout the Columbus, Ohio, community. During his nine-year tenure, Clyburn promoted diversity and inclusion at Ohio State by assessing university diversity practices and data trends and by working with senior leaders to advocate for institutional change.

Clyburn earned his M.A. and Ph.D. from Ohio State’s Department of English, where his work focused on critical race theory and post-civil rights African-American literature, specifically studying the ways Black writers portray the impact of colorblind/post-racial discourse on the lives of Black people.

Ruth J. Jackson

Vice President and Chief of Staff

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.

Margaret T. McFadden

Provost and Dean of Faculty

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.

Matthew T. Proto

Vice President and Chief Institutional Advancement Officer

Vice President and Chief Institutional Advancement Officer 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.

Douglas C. Terp

Vice President for Administration and Chief Financial Officer

Vice President for Administration and Chief Financial Officer Douglas C. Terp ’84 is responsible for the administration of the business affairs of the College, including finance, facilities management, and administrative services. He serves as chief financial officer and supervises offices and departments including Dining Services, Financial Planning, Financial Services, Human Resources, Information Technology Services, Investments, Physical Plant, Risk Management, and Security. He has worked at Colby since 1987, and following 11 years as director of personnel he was named vice president in 2005. He chairs the Budget Committee and the Environmental Advisory Group and is a member of the Economics Department. At Colby Terp earned his bachelor’s degree in government in 1984. He earned an M.B.A. at Thomas College in 1995.

Jacqueline Terrassa

Carolyn Muzzy Director of the Colby College Museum of Art

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.

Richard Y. Uchida

Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary of the College

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.

Michael D. Wisecup

Vice President and Harold Alfond Director of Athletics

As vice president and Harold Alfond Director of Athletics, Mike Wisecup oversees Colby athletics and recreational sports. Prior to joining Colby, Wisecup served 20 years in the U.S. Navy as a SEAL officer. Mike is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and earned an M.B.A. from the Indian Institute for Technology and Management in Mumbai, India in 2009.