Dr. Debra A. Colley

Biography

Dr. Debra A. Colley has served as executive vice president of Niagara University since 2015. In this role, she provides leadership and guidance on matters related to the development, operation, mission and objectives of the university. She is responsible for areas including strategic planning, international relations, student affairs and housing, equity and inclusion (Title IX), institutional research, public relations and communication, information technology, service learning, Middle States accreditation, grants and sponsored programs, and the university general counsel. She also oversees the Levesque Center for Civic Engagement and the Brennan Center for Language, Culture and Leadership, and leads binational expansion, Ministerial consent, and operation of the university in the Province of Ontario.

Dr. Colley began her tenure at Niagara in 1999 as dean of the College of Education. She came to Niagara from the New York State Education Department, where she held positions in its Office of Vocational and Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities and its Office of Higher and Continuing Education, Division of Academic Program Review. She previously was a member of the faculty at the State University College at Buffalo and D’Youville College. She began her career as a teacher in the Buffalo Public Schools.

A member of numerous international, national, state, and regional boards and organizations. Dr. Colley has written and presented across the country on topics around education. She holds a bachelor of science in special education/elementary education from the State University College at Buffalo and a master of science in education and a doctor of philosophy from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She is a graduate of Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Executive Leadership Program.