Debra Townsley has been selected to serve as interim president of Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania. She was appointed to a one-year term that began on July 1.
Albright College enrolls about 1,300 undergraduate and 200 graduate students. Women represent about 56 percent of the undergraduate student body.
With a notable background in higher education leadership, Dr. Townsley brings over four decades of experience to her new position. Most recently, she spent five years as president of William Peace University in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she greatly improved the institution’s financial stability. Prior to this role, she served as president of Nichols College in Dudley, Massachusetts. During her tenure at Nichols College, she oversaw two fundraising campaigns that earned the school a total of $28 million. She also had a stint as interim president of Laboure College in Boston.
Earlier in her career, Dr. Townsley was an assistant professor of business at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia, and at Northern Virginia Community College, where she was chair of the accounting and data processing departments. She also worked for St. Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont, as director of undergraduate and graduate management studies.
Dr. Townsley is a graduate of American University in Washington, D.C. She holds an MBA from George Washington University and a Ph.D. from the University of Vermont.