New Administrators Join RCC

Rockland Community College (RCC) welcomed new dean of Academic and Community Partnerships, director of Institutional Research and vice president of finance and administration.

Thomas P. Della Torre, the new dean of Academic and Community Partnerships at Rockland Community College, previously served as interim dean of Academic Affairs and director of Academic Support Services. James Robertson came on board as director of Institutional Research and Nayyer Hussain, PhD joined the senior administration as vice president of Finance and Administration.

Della Torre's responsibilities deal with RCC’s relationships with the business community and local families and oversight of the Center for Personal & Professional Development, which provides customized business training and seminars, classroom and online non-credit courses for continuing education, and professional development programs. Other programs under his stewardship include RCC in the High School program for high school students earning college credits at their home schools, Sports Academy and Kids College summer camps, University Center for students earning bachelor's degrees at RCC through Purchase College, and on-campus partners including the SBDC, SCORE, and RSVP. Della Torre is also ramping up the Academic Travel programs, which offer the public credit and non-credit short in-depth study trips to domestic and international sites.  

Della Torre previously held executive positions with Transamerica Corporation and managed business development for a division of First American Corporation. At Bergen Community College he served as dean of Humanities and at Howard Community College in Columbia, MD he was division chair, Writing Program director, and an assistant English professor. Della Torre earned his BA in Social Sciences and MAT in English at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Robertson will lead the Institutional Research department, which provides quantitative and qualitative information critical for RCC’s strategic planning, assessment and institutional effectiveness. Robertson’s previous experience includes 15 years at the Community College of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh, PA, where he served as assistant director of Planning and Research. Robertson earned both a BA in Architectural Studies and a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Pittsburgh.

Dr. Hussain will work with internal and community stakeholders towards the development of the college’s Campus Master Plan. Most recently he served as the interim vice president of Finance (Interim) at the University of Rio Grande in Ohio.

He received a Certificate from the Institute for Educational Management of Harvard University, earned his PhD in Economics from the University of Pittsburgh, an MA in Economics from California State University, Los Angeles and both his MBA and BA in Economics from the University of Karachi, Pakistan. Dr.Hussain has been an active and longtime member of Rotary International and plans to continue that affiliation locally.