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‘Essentially running a small town': Eight questions with new AIC president Nicolle Cestero
SPRINGFIELD — American International College in Springfield makes history on July 1 by formally welcoming its first female president since the institution was founded 140 years ago.
The college's board of trustees unanimously selected Nicolle Cestero as the 13th president of the institution. She was appointed president by the board in May and has assumed the responsibilities of the role, according to Denise Vozella, AIC's public relations and communications manager. The title becomes official next month.
Cestero served as interim president beginning in March 2024, following her tenure as executive vice president, chief operating officer and chief of staff.
As interim president, Cestero led the launch of Pathway to Progress, a business plan to guide the college's direction in the coming years. The plan addresses operations, a revised academic portfolio and expanded degree offerings.
Before joining AIC in 2011, Cestero began her professional career in New York City at the Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank focused on global affairs.
Cestero holds a master's degree in business administration from AIC, a master's degree in industrial-organizational psychology from the University of West Florida and a bachelor's degree in psychology from Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley.
Cestero spoke with The Republican recently about making history and her mark on AIC.
Q. Have you always aspired to be a college president?
A. There had been conversations between the board and I regarding whether I wanted to put my hat in the ring for the presidency, and I kept saying 'No.' I didn't want to do this because it's a huge lifestyle change.
Being a college president is similar to being the mayor of a city because you are essentially running a small town. You have to worry about (everything from) whether there are weeds growing in the cracks of the sidewalk, to whether your students are safe, your academic product, fundraising with alumni and donors.
There's a lot that goes into it and I still have four daughters. They range in age from 6 to 17. I didn't think it was the right time for me.
Q. What changed your mind?
A. We have worked hard over the past year to put a plan together to stabilize the institution and position it on a pathway for growth. There have been some positive things happening and I want to see them through because I care deeply about this institution, and I want to see us be successful. So here I am!
Q. How meaningful is it for you to be the first female president of AIC?
A. I have believed for a long time in empowering women and how women lead differently than men. I want to ensure the role of women in the workplace continues to be important and relevant. We need to continue to lift up other women so we can break that glass ceiling and show the power of women in general.
It's cool for my daughters to see a woman in this position who can manage a job like this but also be a mom and give you a curfew and help with your homework. I'm glad they get to see and live that.
Q. What is your overall vision for the college?
A. The college found itself, like many other institutions, not in a very good position in many different ways — financially, programmatically, from a morale perspective.
We did some deep work and called in experts over the past year and the outcome of that was a plan for the next three years that dovetailed with our strategic plan. There are shared goals across the institution that help us identify what we're doing and how everybody benefits.
Q. How does the plan address the fact that fewer families are having children, which means fewer of them are going college?
A. That decline is going to continue until 2032, which means there are relatively the same number of institutions that have a smaller customer base to pull from. You've got to be able to grab a larger portion of that smaller customer base to maintain and grow.
We are changing how we market ourselves to meet the communication style for 18-year-olds.
Students and kids are on social media all the time, so you need to make sure you've got a presence on Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok. We're also emailing and texting, finding out how they research and connect with colleges.
We're also addressing programming. How do update our courses and make them more relevant? How do we expand our reach beyond this region for online programming? For example, how do we get a student in Chicago to attend AIC in Springfield?
We're reaching out to demographic groups besides traditional first-time college freshmen. There are transfer students and an adult market. We've got different partnerships to help us make sure we're giving attention to these different groups so we are stabilizing and growing this institution.
Q. How do you plan to balance the competing demands of your key audiences?
A. There are different constituent groups, and they can have different feelings about the institution — and going through a presidential transition can be difficult.
Let's take our alumni. They want to know who's leading this institution and is it similar to the school I went to — the school that cared for me and gave me this opportunity. The school that changed my life. Is the school still doing those things for students and does the president leading the institution have the values and the vision to ensure AIC is what we want it to be?
I have been at the college for a long time, and we have made progress over the past year. We are trying to do a better job of bringing alumni together. We are having a positive effect on the alumni. We still have work to do, but at least we're starting that process, which is a good thing.
Q. AIC has had a troubled relationship with students in the past. How are you addressing that?
A. About a year and a half ago, the students were definitely not pleased about communication, transparency and they felt a lack of support under the previous administration.
There were a lot of conversations about how upset they were. Things were posted online and there were meetings called to express their dissatisfaction. I believe that has changed, for the most part. Relationships have been worked on and been repaired, but that needs to continue. It's like a marriage; you don't fix one problem and move on. We have to pay attention to it constantly. I think things are improved but we have to continue to work on it every single day.
Q. Are you looking forward to your installation?
A. I'm not one of those people that likes that kind of stuff. I'd rather just do the work and make sure we're moving in the right direction. We don't need to have a party.
Editor's note: Following The Republican's interview with Cestero, Vozella, the college's spokesperson, stated in an email, 'At this time, there are no immediate plans for a formal investiture. President Cestero prefers to focus on the work ahead rather than ceremony.'
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