Hanna Rodriguez-Farrar, vice president for public affairs and university relations at Dominican University of California, will join Colgate University as chief of staff to the president starting August 1. In this role, Rodriguez-Farrar will support faculty, administrators, and the Board of Trustees in the planning and development of strategic initiatives across campus. Her work will enable the Office of the President to continue development of important initiatives and support emerging strategic initiatives during the upcoming Bicentennial year and the years ahead.
“I’m excited to welcome Hanna to Colgate,” said President Brian W. Casey. “She brings a deep knowledge and breadth of experience in higher education. She holds a love of and respect for colleges and universities, a commitment to advancing knowledge, and the belief in the power of ideas to shape the world for the better. Her work at Brown, Harvard, and, most recently, at Dominican University of California will be of great benefit to the Office of the President at Colgate and to all faculty and staff.”
In the president’s office, Rodriguez-Farrar will join Robert Tyburski ’74, vice president and senior advisor and secretary to the Board of Trustees, and Christopher Wells, senior advisor to the president, who will continue to oversee human resources, legal affairs, risk management, and university inclusion efforts.
Since joining Dominican in 2013, Rodriguez-Farrar has overseen institutional research, information technology services, student life, athletics, external relations, marketing, communications, and media relations. From 2013 to 2015, she managed a campuswide planning process that provided the foundation for Dominican’s strategic plan. In 2016, she developed and oversaw College Debate 2016, a nonpartisan social media initiative designed to engage college students in the 2016 election. The initiative won the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education District VII Gold Award for “Public Relations, Media Relations, and Community Relations Projects.”
Prior to Dominican, Rodriguez-Farrar was assistant to the president at Brown University, working directly with President Ruth Simmons during a period of rapid strengthening of Brown across academic and student life, at a time when the university was engaged in a $1.6 billion fundraising campaign. Prior to her work in the president’s office at Brown, Rodriguez-Farrar worked as a researcher at Harvard Business School, Harvard Graduate School of Education, and the National Bureau of Economic Research.
“As Colgate embarks on celebrating its 200th anniversary, I am thrilled to support President Casey, faculty, staff, alumni, and students in charting Colgate’s third century,” Rodriguez-Farrar said. “I am excited to join the Colgate community and look forward to meeting and working with faculty, staff, alumni, students, and community partners.”
Rodriguez-Farrar earned a doctorate from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education with an emphasis on higher education leadership and policy. She also earned a PhD and bachelor’s degree from Brown University in history of art and architecture.