I. THE SEARCH FOR THE SEVENTH PRESIDENT OF MONTGOMERY COLLEGE
The Presidential Search Advisory Committee of Montgomery College is conducting a national search for a talented, accomplished leader to sustain the remarkable momentum achieved in recent years at this nationally recognized community college. Dr. Charlene R. Nunley has announced her retirement effective with the appointment of a successor. The new president is expected to assume office as early as possible in 2007. This prospectus is designed to provide nominators and prospective candidates with helpful information about Montgomery College and its presidency.
II. AN OVERVIEW OF MONTGOMERY COLLEGE
Chartered in 1946, Montgomery College has served the community with distinction and achieved a position of national prominence. Now considered one of the premier community colleges in the nation, the College offers a unique leadership opportunity for its seventh president. Located in Montgomery County, Maryland, adjacent to Washington, DC, and 30 miles from Baltimore, the College is governed by a 10 member Board of Trustees appointed by the Governor of Maryland. Montgomery College serves over 55,000 credit and non-credit students annually on three campuses in Takoma Park/Silver Spring, Rockville, and Germantown, a college-wide Workforce Development and Continuing Education unit, training centers in Wheaton and Gaithersburg, a central administrative center, and other off campus sites.
The College, one of the most multi-racial, multi-cultural, and multi-ethnic community colleges in the country, enrolls students from Montgomery County, the greater Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area, and over 170 countries from around the world. The over 1,500 exceptionally well-qualified and talented faculty, staff, and administrators are dedicated to their students’ success. Montgomery College offers a broad range of academic programs and support services with state-of-the-art technology. The College is widely recognized for the quality and scope of its programs in art and music, the humanities, health science, business, engineering and science, developmental education, many career areas, workforce development, trades and honors. Three-year capital expenditures total $210 million. The annual operating budget is $214 million with $35 million being self supporting continuing education, auxiliary services, grants and contracts. The remaining $179 million is 50% supported by the county government, 33% from tuition, and 14% from the state. The College has an active Foundation and Alumni Association. For more information, please see its web site at www.montgomerycollege.edu.
III. THE ATTRACTIONS OF MONTGOMERY COLLEGE AND ITS PRESIDENCY
The next president of Montgomery College will have an exceptional opportunity to be a part of and to influence the future direction of one of the nation’s finest public two-year colleges. Among the many attractions of the College and this presidency are those listed below:
- Montgomery College is highly visible in the community and enjoys extraordinary support from the Montgomery County Government, local representatives of state government, its Foundation, Alumni, educational, business, and civic leaders, and the general community. This support has been essential to Montgomery College’s reputation as a high quality, affordable and accessible institution of higher education.
- The College has a superb reputation for the breadth and quality of its academic programs and for being responsive and agile in developing new programs to meet changing educational and training needs. The College serves over 200 businesses annually with individually designed programs, and is recognized for innovative and entrepreneurial programs, including a variety of signature honors programs some of which include a summer study abroad component; special institutes which provide extracurricular programs, scholarships and internships; and programs that target additional services and a learning community environment for participating students. Also the College has been on the cutting edge in the design of online courses and now delivers 4.5% of its total credit hour courses using this mode.
- Montgomery College is the accessible and affordable institution of choice for 40% of the graduates of the Montgomery County Public Schools, evidence of the value of the College to the community and the community’s quality of life. The excellent academic programs are complimented by disability support services, counseling, learning labs, extensive financial aid programs, student activities and athletics. It is noteworthy that in the past year, nearly 4,000 Montgomery College students transferred to other colleges and universities in 45 states.
- Montgomery College takes great pride in the diversity of its large cosmopolitan student body. The student profile describes a population that is 40% white, 29% African American or Black, 16% Asian, and 15% Latino or Hispanic. The College ranks second only to the University of Maryland in undergraduate enrollment in the state and is more than 50% minority with no predominant ethnic group.
- The College has a talented, loyal, long-serving faculty and staff who are committed to and proud of the College’s mission of “changing lives,” “enriching our community,” and “holding ourselves accountable.” The faculty is represented by the American Association of University Professors and the staff by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The full-time employees are 60% white, 25% African American or Black, 9% Asian, and 6% Latino or Hispanic. Full-time employees are also 46% male and 54% female. Faculty and staff have extensive opportunities for personal and professional development and many take advantage of College programs, external programs, and funds for study.
- The College has numerous partnerships with the public schools, including teaching college courses for high school students in their home school. Partnerships with other organizations include the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, The American Film Institute, The Marriott Corporation, health care providers, various biotechnology firms, and many others.
- The College’s partnership with the Universities at Shady Grove, a regional center of the University System of Maryland, enables many Montgomery College transfer students to obtain a bachelor’s degree without leaving Montgomery County.
- The College’s Board of Trustees, composed of leading citizens of Montgomery County, provides effective stewardship for the College, including a record of healthy, supportive relationships with its chief executive officer.
- Montgomery College has a strong resource base, benefiting in particular from a broad tax base and the County Government’s generous appropriation of 50% of the College’s capital and operating budgets, a figure well above the local support received by most community colleges. Operating expenditures are approximately $11,000 per credit program FTE.
- Montgomery County is a progressive, vibrant community that values education and offers a rich cultural life for its citizens. The county of nearly one million residents is in the top five counties nationally regarding family income, and over 57% of adults have at least a bachelor’s degree. The county has an international population and is known for good government and a high quality of life. The county is home to nine federal departments or agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, has a high concentration of biotechnology and information technology companies, and is headquarters for international companies such as Lockheed Martin and The Marriott Corporation.
- The Montgomery College Foundation, with assets of $22 million, is led by distinguished and influential individuals from the community and provides active leadership in raising funds from private sources and in financing and providing advice on non-governmentally funded construction projects. The Foundation soon will embark on a major fund-raising initiative. The Foundation and the Alumni Association raised approximately $5 million this year for the annual fund, and in the recent past received several individual gifts of a million dollars or more, placing the College among the top five community colleges in the nation in private funding.
- Although additional facilities are needed for the expanding enrollment, and some older buildings require renovation, the College’s three campuses have several well-maintained state-of-the-art buildings with extensive technology infrastructure. The College owns 43 buildings and leases all or part of 6 others. At the Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus, new buildings for health sciences and student services were recently completed, and a fine arts center and a performing arts center are now under construction. The Germantown Campus will soon add a Biotechnology Business Park in cooperation with local business and government. The Rockville Campus has several buildings slated for renovation, and construction for a new science building will start in the next year.
IV. LEADERSHIP CHALLENGES FOR THE SEVENTH PRESIDENT OF
MONTGOMERY COLLEGE
Montgomery College is well positioned to meet the many challenges that lie ahead in the next three to five years. Nevertheless, there are priority needs that must be addressed by the next president to ensure that Montgomery College continues to grow both quantitatively and qualitatively. The following priorities obviously are interrelated and are not listed in order of importance:
- Relations with the External Community: Montgomery College has unusually strong, mutually supportive relationships with leaders in government, business, education and other sectors in the county and the state, which have resulted in robust support for the College. However, these supportive relationships cannot be taken for granted. The president must reach out and continue to tell the story of the College’s determination to serve the community’s educational, cultural and training needs with distinction. Montgomery College’s president must see the “big picture” of the College’s relationship to the larger community and effectively communicate a vision for the College’s role, along with outlining the resource needs that are necessary to achieve this vision. Because there are likely to be significant changes in the political leadership in the county and perhaps the state, the next president must develop strong, effective working relationships with these new leaders. The president will be expected to serve on boards and commissions in the region and nationally. Additional efforts must be made to organize and energize those who have attended Montgomery College to broaden the advocacy base for the College.
- Responding to a Growing Student Population: The steady pattern of student growth in recent years has resulted in a strain on faculty, staff, and facilities. Some older facilities can no longer provide adequate support for current programs and educational needs. The Rockville Campus, in particular, has far exceeded its enrollment capacity and now serves 15,000 students. A committee has been appointed to review the future of the Rockville Campus, but Takoma Park/Silver Spring and Germantown also will have to plan for the expected pattern of continuing program and enrollment growth. The 2004 Montgomery College Facilities Master Plan provides a good road map for the expansion and renovation of facilities on the three campuses.
- Replacement of Retiring Faculty and Staff: Montgomery College has a large cadre of competent, dedicated faculty and staff that have served the College well for many years. However, there will be a large turnover, estimated as high as 40%, of faculty and staff through retirements in the next five years. Thus, similar to most colleges in the country, a major challenge for the College will be to attract talented replacements - while increasing employee diversity - in a highly competitive market and then to ensure that new faculty and staff become steeped in Montgomery College’s tradition of excellence in student-centered academic and support services.
- Organization and Leadership Team: Montgomery College is a large, multi-campus college that, by its very nature, presents many organizational and communication issues. This complex organization requires the president to engage competent administrative colleagues to play key roles in leading and managing the College. The new president must quickly develop an administrative team, define expectations, encourage them to think and act creatively in addressing needs and solving problems, and ensure that employees throughout the organization are involved and informed. Because the College has grown substantially in numbers of students and employees as well as programs and services, lines of communication, internal procedures, and organizational structures are somewhat strained. To help foster a culture of open communications across the College the new president will want to listen carefully to administrators, faculty and staff to understand and assess internal operations.
- Funding: Although the College has enjoyed strong financial support from Montgomery County, the continuing growth in enrollment will create ever-increasing demands for additional funding to hire more faculty and staff, expand and renovate facilities, and respond to new program needs. Except for this year, it has been necessary to increase tuition significantly in recent years, a concern for Montgomery College because of its commitment to access and affordability. There are indications that some prospective students have been unable to enroll either because desired courses were filled or because of insufficient financial aid. Thus, the new president must lead the effort to enhance both public and private funding to maintain accessibility to the College’s quality programs and to support the costs of operations.
- Major Fund-raising Initiative: The Montgomery College Foundation has provided exceptional financial support for the institution to supplement public funding. With the many needs for additional scholarships, new facilities, and programs, this private funding is a critical component of the College’s resources. In the next few months, the Foundation will launch the largest fund-raising effort in the College’s history. It is important for this campaign to succeed for substantive and symbolic reasons because the funds are designated for significant needs that will enhance the quality of Montgomery College’s service to its students and the community.
V. DESIRED CHARACTERISTICS FOR THE PRESIDENT OF MONTGOMERY COLLEGE
Montgomery College’s mission, history, culture, and location as well as the leadership challenges enumerated above suggest particular characteristics that are important for the candidates.
The College is seeking:
- A person with an appreciation of the history, culture, ideals and values of Montgomery College who has a genuine passion for the community college open access mission to serve students and the larger community;
- A proven leader and skilled manager with an inclusive leadership style who will empower faculty and staff to think and act creatively in addressing Montgomery College’s challenges;
- A person of intellectual distinction who is devoted to excellence in teaching and learning and appreciates the pivotal role of faculty and support staff in the education of students as well as service to the community;
- A person of unimpeachable integrity who inspires confidence and trust, both within and outside Montgomery College;
- An excellent communicator who is a good listener as well as an articulate spokesperson and advocate for Montgomery College;
- A person with an understanding of the dynamics of large, complex organizations, such as a multi-campus institution, with the ability to balance college-wide policies with the unique aspects of each campus and with the ability to minimize bureaucracy and red tape;
- A person with an engaging personality who will enjoy interactions with faculty, staff and students, as well as with the external community and its leaders;
- An enthusiastic advocate and supporter of Montgomery College’s remarkable diversity, broadly defined, and its value in the education of students and in enriching the quality of life at the College;
- A strategic thinker who supports participatory planning in establishing institutional priorities that guide the use of resources and in establishing college-wide policies;
- A persuasive leader who will work with the Foundation and Alumni in the cultivation of private donors and with county and state officials in obtaining sufficient public funding;
- A person who will develop an effective working relationship with the Board of Trustees to enhance the leadership effectiveness of the president and the Board; and
- A person with good political instincts who can interact effectively with local, state, and national officials and organizations as an advocate for the College and for community colleges in general.
VI. NOMINATIONS AND APPLICATION PROCEDURE
Nominations and applications (to include a letter of interest and a resume) will be treated in confidence and should be sent electronically (MS Word) to Dr. Robert Shoenberg, Chair, Presidential Search Advisory Committee, Montgomery College at presidentialsearch@montgomerycollege.edu.
The Presidential Search Advisory Committee will begin to review candidates in September 2006 and continue until an appointment is made. The committee is being assisted by Dr. Ronald Stead and
Dr. Robert Parilla of the Academic Search Consultation Service. Confidential inquiries may be made to Dr. Stead at rss@academic-search.com or at (202)332-4049. Dr. Parilla may be reached at
rep@academic-search.com or at (301)869-1872.
An Equal Opportunity, Affirmation Action, Title IX Employer
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