Robert Pura Appointed to Economic Development Planning Council
BOSTON — Gov. Charlie Baker has formally appointed Greenfield Community College President Robert Pura to the newly established Economic Development Planning Council for the Commonwealth.
“It is an honor to be chosen as a member of the Economic Development Planning Council, and I want to thank the Baker-Polito administration for their confidence,” said Pura. “I look forward to working with Secretary [of Housing and Economic Development Jay] Ash and the council in planning for the future of the Commonwealth. I am especially appreciative of the governor’s desire to seek input and perspective for this important work from our community.”
The Council will convene its first meeting in October.
In addition to 37 years experience as a teacher and administrator in the Massachusetts community-college System, the past 15 as president of Greenfield Community College, Pura is also a graduate of a community college. As the first in his family to attend college and the child of an immigrant, he understands what a community-college education can mean to students. “Opening the doors to higher education to all who aspire to a better life for themselves and their families while at the same time maintaining high academic standards is the noblest mission in higher education,” he said.
Pura has chaired the Massachusetts President’s Council and served on its executive committee. He was a member of the working group on assessment of student learning for the state Department of Higher Education and currently serves on the Commission on Academic Student and Community Development for the American Assoc. of Community Colleges. He sits on the Baystate Health board of directors and the New England Assoc. of Schools and Colleges Higher Education Commission.
