Education board chancellor to step down

The chancellor of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education, Judith I. Gill , will announce at today's board meeting that she intends to step down later this year after six years in the post, a board spokeswoman said.

Gill, has accepted a three-year faculty contract at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, to teach and advise students in a doctoral program in higher education administration, according to a UMass-Boston spokesman.

Gill, 55, would not return calls, but provided a statement to the Globe, writing that she was excited to return to teaching and research.

``I am proud of our many accomplishments," she wrote. ``And I am ready for the next chapter of my career."

Gill is regarded as a passionate advocate for improving the quality of education at the state's colleges and universities, but has had an increasingly strained relationship with the chairman of the board, Stephen P. Tocco , according to two people familiar with their relationship, who spoke on condition of anonymity to preserve their relationships with Tocco and Gill.

The two people familiar with the situation said the tensions boiled over in November when Gill outlined in a public meeting a proposal that would shift some financial aid away from middle-class students to needier students.

She had not briefed Tocco or state legislators on the proposal beforehand, and they reacted negatively. The plan appears to be dead, although a task force on financial aid is expected to make a preliminary report to the board today.

In a brief phone interview, Tocco said ``Judy has been great; she's been a wonderful leader. I'm disappointed, but I understand it's time for her to . . . move on."

Tocco's cellphone cut out before the Globe was able to ask him to comment on the reports of his tensions with Gill.

His assistant had said earlier that he would probably be unreachable all day. Tocco, who had warned his phone battery was about to run out, could not be reached again later.

``From time to time, Judy and Steve have disagreed, but that's to be expected when you're dealing with complex public policy decisions," said Eileen O'Connor, the board's spokeswoman.

O'Connor declined to discuss Gill's departure date or plans to find her replacement, saying details would be revealed at today's board meeting.

Several people at public institutions said yesterday that Gill's most significant accomplishment was creating standards for state and community colleges considered among the toughest in the country.

Colleges risk losing their state funding if they do not meet benchmarks for fund-raising, efficiency, and student diversity, according to rules approved by the board in 2003.

Gill also did important work in addressing the state's shortage of nurses and in encouraging more regional collaboration between universities and state and community colleges, said real estate investor Richard Taylor , a member of the board, who said he was not aware of tensions between Gill and Tocco.

``She has done some very wonderful things," said Dana Mohler-Faria , president of Bridgewater State College. ``She was very committed and supportive of the institutions."

In her statement, Gill said her six years in the position made her the state's longest serving higher education chancellor. Before becoming chancellor, Gill had been vice chancellor since 1995. She spent about five years as director of research and policy analysis for the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, and taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Denver.

A Brookline native, she earned a bachelor's degree at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and her doctorate from the University of Michigan.

Marcella Bombardieri can be reached at bombardieri @globe.com.