President's Biography

Alison Buckley, Ed.D.

Alison Buckley serves as the seventh president of SUNY Ulster. She assumed office in 2022 and brought with her a student-centered approach to leadership, focusing on cultivating a culture of inclusive excellence and increasing degree completion and transfer to four-year colleges and universities.

Dr. Buckley’s dedicated her career to ensuring that all community college students have the resources needed to be successful. Prior to being named president of SUNY Ulster, Dr. Buckley served as the Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs for Connecticut State Community Colleges, where she established and directed the strategic enrollment management division for the state’s community colleges. During her time in the Connecticut State Community College System, she served thirteen campuses with approximately 50,000 students. Some of her accomplishments include leading the state-wide Guided Pathways reforms, including the implementation of a holistic advising model; the establishment of the first community college strategic enrollment management plan; completing the organizational design of a single enrollment management and student affairs division in advance of the community college merger; successfully completing the New England Commission for Higher Education substantive change process to merge the colleges into a single institution and working closely with the United States Department of Education on the technical components of the merger.   Dr. Buckley also served for seven years as the associate vice president of enrollment management at Howard Community College (HCC) in Columbia, Maryland. During her tenure, HCC was consistently recognized for best practices in the field of enrollment management and had the strongest enrollment among Maryland’s community colleges. Dr. Buckley is also experienced in the classroom; she has taught at the American College Dublin, the Community College of Philadelphia, Delaware County Community College, and Howard Community College.

Dr. Buckley has presented nationally on matters related to enrollment management and performance improvement. She currently serves on the Advisory Committee of Presidents for the Association of Community College Trustees, the National Junior College Athletic Association Presidents’ Commission, and has served on the American Association of Community Colleges Commission on Institutional Infrastructure and Transformation. In Maryland, she served on the Lieutenant Governor’s task force on two-generation poverty and the Governor’s task force for students with disabilities. 

Dr. Buckley earned a doctorate in organizational leadership studies from Northeastern University, a master’s degree in history and a postgraduate certificate in museum studies from the University of Delaware, an M.Phil. in women’s studies from the University of Dublin, Trinity College, and an M.B.A from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park. She holds a bachelor’s degree in classics and history from Randolph College, where she currently serves on the Board of Trustees. 

Dr. Buckley lives in Gardiner, New York, with her husband, Mark Evans, and their dog Lupo.