Employee Spotlight: Leslie Filippelli-DiManna, DBA

07/12/2024

With two decade’s worth of experience in higher education as a faculty member, administrator, and program developer – not to mention her work in fundraising – Leslie Filippelli-DiManna, DBA, joins the CCRI community as the college’s Interim Dean of Business, Science, Technology and Mathematics (BSTM).

In this role, Filipelli will work with the BSTM team to oversee the divisional academic work of Business & Professional Studies, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Studies & Information Processing, Physics & Engineering, and Mathematics. She comes to CCRI from the American Public University System (APUS) in West Virginia, where she served as the Acting Dean and Associate Dean of the college’s Wallace E. Boston School of Business, and also has 15 years of teaching experience, including 10 years as an adjunct at CCRI.

A graduate of Rhode Island College, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Communications/Public Relations, Filippelli returned to school later in life to earn her Master of Business Administration (Management) and Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies (Health Administration) from Bryant in addition to her Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) in Leadership from Walden University in Minnesota.

Today, we learn more about Filippelli’s inspiration to continue her education, her impromptu foray into the fundraising industry, and her goals as Interim Dean at CCRI. 

Having served as an adjunct for 10 years at CCRI before returning in this new role, will that experience within this community help you moving forward?  

Being an adjunct allowed me to become familiar with CCRI, all its wonderful programs, faculty and staff, and especially our students. I believe this has enhanced my ability to make decisions about and oversight of the BSTM division as Interim Dean by giving me a more thorough understanding of CCRI’s culture. Having experienced the opportunities and challenges faced by faculty, as well as the students, allows me to make more wholistic decisions on an administrative level.  

What are some of your goals as Interim Dean of BSTM?  

The first of my major goals as Interim Dean is to work with chairs and faculty to help make their courses and programs the best they can be through assessment, new ideas, and ensuring they know they are a crucial, valued, and appreciated part of our team. The second goal will be to work with faculty and chairs to tie our programs/certificates to professional certifications wherever possible to provide students with a unique benefit of completing a program and being professionally certified in that area.  

You recently wrote a journal entry about returning to work and school after time away from the workforce. As someone who went back to school later in life while juggling family responsibilities, do you feel a special connection to the community college student body considering many are in the same position you once were?  

Most definitely. It’s true I did return to work and school after time away raising my boys and it was challenging. The real example for me, however, was my mother. With four children, my mother – who did not drive – started her bachelor’s in her late 30s. She graduated at 40 years old weeks after giving birth to my youngest brother and soon began working as a substitute teacher. A few years later, she earned her master’s degree and went on to have a fulfilling teaching career. I can still hear the clacking of the typewriter as she wrote her papers well into the night after we had all gone to bed. I understand the hours and commitment that go into raising a family, working, and furthering your education, but have always told my students education is the one thing no one can ever take away from you. 

How did you get involved in fundraising and what were some of the more rewarding aspects of that industry?  

I actually fell into fundraising. When I graduated Rhode Island College in the late 1980s, the job market was tough. I took a job first as an administrative assistant at an ad agency then as a development assistant at Family Service, Inc. From there, I worked into a director role at VNS in Narragansett and then as President of the VNA Foundation at Lifespan. I have worked for not-for-profits my entire career. Fundraising is one of those areas that you need to have commitment and passion for the mission, or you will not be successful. The organizations I worked for focused on the health and safety of children and families. Knowing that the funds being raised were going to critical services would drive me. You truly feel like you’re making a difference. I even incorporate service-learning projects in my classes so students understand the effect they can have to make a difference in the world. The organizations gain assistance they may not otherwise be able to afford, the students gain experience and learn to put what they know into practice, and they both experience the perspective of one another. They are lessons that stays with them forever.  

With such a busy schedule in the workforce and outside of CCRI as a mother, what are some of your favorite activities to unwind? 

To unwind one of the activities I have is Pilates. It’s a great way to stay in shape, recover from injuries, and have as a stress reliever. It develops your core, is not high intensity, and truly does provide pain relief. I am training to become a Certified Pilates Instructor which is recognized worldwide. I also have quite a few pets – four dogs, two cats, two goats, two sugar gliders, two geckos, two bearded dragons, and two chameleons! Those are the consequences of having a son in a veterinarian program! It’s nice to come home and no matter what kind of day I’ve had, they’re all happy to see me.

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