Claudia Chiesi, Ph. D joined Siren Studios in 2005 as a producer for documentary films addressing human rights. She became the Executive Producer for “The Sugar Babies” in 2006.
Prior and appointed in 1995, Dr. Chiesi was the President of Harford Community College (Maryland) and led the college with a $32 million annual operating budget. She completed more than $35 milliion in capital construction including a multimedia library, a 900 seat performing arts center, a science observatory and classroom and technology buildings with capital assets of more than $180 million, 330 acres and a 37% increase in credit enrollment to 5500 and non-credit enrollment of 14,000. She completed two sabbatical projects on educational leadership and international environmental stewardship. From 1990-1995, Dr. Chiesi was the Vice-President for academic and student affairs at Lorain County Community College (Ohio) and from 1988-1990 she was Dean for Instruction at Palm Beach Community College (Florida).
She began her career in higher education as the Coordinator for Institutional Research at the State University of New York at Buffalo (New York) and spent 12 years as a tenured professor at Catonsville Community College (Maryland). Dr. Chiesi initiated the statewide baccalaureate degree at community colleges discussion with the Maryland state legislature in 2002 and was named to the Maryland Governor’s Commission to develop a statewide plan for higher education; previously from 1993-95, she assisted with the development of a university center at Lorain Community College in Ohio that offers upper division and graduate programs. Before her career in higher education, Dr. Chiesi was a social worker in Buffalo, New York and a public caseworker in Paterson, New Jersey.
Dr.Chiesi earned her Doctorate and Masters Degrees from SUNY at Buffalo (New York) and her Bachelors from St. Bonaventure University (New York); a certificate in leadership from Cornell University and has completed language studies at the Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland at College Park. She has been active for 30 years in theatre, dance and music.
Dr. Chiesi has been a presenter and guest speaker at national and international conferences pertaining to personnel and performance evaluations as well as legal issues in higher education, environmental sustainability and green design in the academy including, wellness/health, capital construction, funding and topics related to policies, leadership, board training, accreditation and program evaluation most recently with the society for college and university planners (SCUP), the national council for marketing and public relations (NCMPR) and college and university personnel association (CUPA-HR). Dr. Chiesi has published several monographs on international education and began programs in Russia for nursing, Morocco for telecommunication and Germany for environmental studies. She is a member of the Catholic University of America development board, the AACC commission on research and the National Wildlife Federation campus ecology advisory council and has been active in home building with habitat for humanity in Maryland and New York. She has received awards and honors for her professional contributions from community and national organizations such as the American Association of Community College’s CEO leadership award and the NAACP Harford branch award for service; has secured grants and awards for nearly two million dollars from USAID, NOAA/DNR, USDE, APAP and others related to international education programs, publications, underserved populations, environmental sustainability and most recently for human rights. Dr. Chiesi serves as a consultant with her own firm legacy alliance associates, specializing in organizational development and environmental issues in the US and Canada.
