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A Message from President Tomás
D. Morales
 It is with
deep regret that I share with you the sad news that Dr. Edmond L.
Volpe, first president of the College of Staten Island, died
December 14, 2007 at Richmond University Hospital on Staten Island.
He was 85.
It is
hard to underestimate his importance in the history and life of
CSI. His vision and energy were driving forces in consolidating
Richmond College and Staten Island Community College into what,
today, is the College of Staten Island. His presidency here was
transformative in virtually every aspect of our school, from
developing it as a senior college within The City University of New
York, to his endless bridge-building between our campus, the Staten
Island community and institutions of higher education around the
world.
His
incomparable gifts as a university administrator were matched by his
talents as a scholar. Dr. Volpe was widely hailed as an expert in
modern American literature, with special recognition for his
analysis of the work of William Faulkner.
In his
book, Creating a College, Dr. Volpe wrote, “…an
institution is the sum of its history, and future generations at CSI
may well find clues to their present in this record of the College’s
creation and early development.” No one contributed to our
College’s creation and early development more than our first
president. We mourn his passing but rejoice in his life and the
inestimable impact he made in our community and in our lives.
A brief
biography
Dr. Volpe was born in New Haven, Conn., and received a bachelor’s
degree at the University of Michigan and his master’s and doctorate
from Columbia University. He joined the faculty of The City College
of New York in 1954. In 1960-1961, he was a Fulbright Professor to
France. A professor of English and American literature, he was
elected chair of The City College Department of English and served
from 1964 to 1970.
During his teaching career, he earned an international reputation
for his scholarship on William Faulkner. His critical study of
Faulkner’s novels, A Reader’s Guide to William Faulkner
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1964), has remained in print for more
than 40 years. It was reissued by Syracuse University Press in 2003,
and in 2004 Syracuse also published A Reader’s Guide to William
Faulkner: The Short Stories.
In 1974, he was appointed president of Richmond College of The
City University of New York. An upper-division institution, Richmond
offered junior, senior, and graduate work. In 1976, as a result of
the New York City fiscal crisis, Richmond College and Staten Island
Community College were merged as the College of Staten Island. Dr.
Volpe was appointed first president and guided the unification of
the two institutions into a single four-year college.
During his 20 years as president, Dr. Volpe was appointed to
numerous University and national committees. He represented The City
University in delegations of the American Association of State
Colleges and Universities to explore and establish exchange
agreements with universities in China, Egypt, Italy, Korea, the
Soviet Union, and elsewhere. In New York City, he was a member of
the Mayor’s Committee on Community Relations.
From the very start of their life on Staten Island, Dr. Volpe and
his wife Rose took an active interest in the community and its
organizations. Rose Volpe nurtured the Friends of the College of
Staten Island. It was she who introduced the popular International
Festival that brought to the campus the cultures of the myriad
ethnic groups of the borough. Together, Dr. Volpe and his wife
encouraged extracurricular music and theater programs and
exhibitions that enhanced the cultural life of the College and
beyond.
A respected educational and civic leader on Staten Island, Dr.
Volpe was honored over the years by many organizations. Among these
were the United Jewish Appeal, the Federation of Jewish
Philanthropies, the Italian Club of Staten Island, the New York
Urban League, the American Committee on Italian Migration, and the
Tibetan Museum.
Dr. Volpe retired in 1994. He continued to write and publish.
Recent works, the fruit of his long and extensive experience in
higher education, are Creating a College (2000) and The
Comprehensive College: Heading Toward a New Direction in Higher
Education (2001).
Sincerely,
Tomás D. Morales, PhD
President
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