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Colorado higher ed chief Angie Paccione will step down Jan. 9 to return to the private sector as a corporate leadership trainer.
Paccione has led the Colorado Department of Higher Education as its executive director since 2019, when Gov. Jared Polis took office. Colorado’s higher education department provides support to campuses and develops statewide policies.
Paccione departs as the second-longest-serving executive director in the department’s history, according to a Tuesday news release from the governor’s office.
“It’s been an honor and delight to do this work,” said Paccione in an interview after the announcement. “I really hope people have felt seen and heard and supported.”
Paccione said she’s contemplated next steps since her mother died earlier this year. She will leave after the department’s annual presentation to the Joint Budget Committee, a six-member group of lawmakers that helps set the budget.
The Polis administration plans to select a successor before she leaves, the news release said.
“Angie’s hard work and dedication has created a foundation that we will continue building on for learners and workers at all levels,” Polis said.
Paccione said she’s most proud of policies that help students who were in foster care and experiencing homelessness get to college. She tried to meet monthly with higher education leaders and held meetings with private institutions to involve them more in statewide policy, she said.
She helped the state and higher education navigate pandemic disruptions and oversaw the doling out of recovery dollars that helped fuel the creation of programs like Colorado Re-Engaged, which awards certain students who dropped out of a four-year institution an associate degree.
Paccione received her doctorate in education and human resource studies from Colorado State University. She has often discussed her higher education experience as the first in her family to graduate college. She attended undergraduate at Stanford University as one of the first women on a full-ride athletic scholarship.
Jason Gonzales is a reporter covering higher education and the Colorado legislature. Chalkbeat Colorado partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage. Contact Jason at jgonzales@chalkbeat.org.
