RPCV David Magnani is finalist for Massachusetts Bay Community College Presidency
College wants a leader with ambition
By Charlie Breitrose / News Staff Writer
Monday, December 6, 2004
FRAMINGHAM -- The last time Massachusetts Bay Community College looked for a new president, the trustees wanted someone to modernize and reorganize the college.
Retired president Lindsay Norman righted the ship, said Board of Trustees Chairman Richard Forbes, so his successor will have a different challenge, to improve a college that has become "a gem" of a community college.
"President Norman needed to straighten out fundamental problems in the business office, and the college organizational structure was somewhat peculiar," said Forbes, a lawyer from Wellesley. "(Now) I think the college is full of excellent teachers and administrators -- it's mature and stable."
Norman has left Mass. Bay, and the college is being led by interim president Andrew Scibelli, who is a retired president of Springfield Technical Community College.
Forbes said he does not have any particular type of person in mind for the next president.
"We are looking to find somebody with his or her own ambitions and aspirations," Forbes said. "Someone who will see the college as a means for the new president to live out his or her own ambitions and aspirations and I hope the person will lift both (himself or herself and the college) while doing so."
The college's presidential search brochure says Mass. Bay is looking for someone who has a strong commitment to academic excellence, who understands the fiscal side of colleges, someone with the strategic planning skills to meet challenging objectives and who can deal with the intricacies of running a public college. Experience with collective bargaining is another plus.
The Mass. Bay trustees are in the midst of interviewing the five finalists for the president's job, and Forbes said the board plans to choose the college's new leader on Friday.
Four of the candidates have experience leading colleges, and the fifth has strong local connections. The finalists are:
# Clifford Brock, president of Georgia's Bainbridge College;
# Carole Berotte Joseph, dean of academic affairs at Dutchess Community College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.;
# David Magnani, the outgoing state senator from Framingham;
# Robert Ross, vice president of academic and student affairs at Cape Cod Community College in West Barnstable;
# and David Trites, senior associate consultant for marketing, recruiting and retention at Noel-Levitz Enrollment Consulting.
During Brock's five years at the helm of Bainbridge, enrollment has increased by 150 percent and donations to the college foundation increased 250 percent. He also helped raise $1.32 million in a capital campaign.
Before going to Bainbridge, Brock served as dean of academic instruction at Itawamba Community College in Fulton, Miss., for five years. He started his career in education as a journalism and English teacher at Ashland High School in Oregon. His first job at a college was as chairman of the media communications department at Pima Community College in Tucson, Ariz.
At Dutchess Community College, Joseph helped hire faculty and run staff development since 2000. She also reviewed the college's courses, helped develop new programs, and developed the college's academic budget.
Joseph worked at Eugenio Maria de Hostos Community College in the Bronx, N.Y., where she served first as associate dean of academic affairs and then vice president of academic affairs. She started her teaching career as an instructor in the bilingual education program in the City College of New York's elementary education department.
In his 20 years in the State House -- eight years in the House and 12 in the Senate -- Magnani worked on several initiatives, including the creation of the Education Reform Act. He served as chairman of the Senate committee on science and technology, the joint committee on education, arts and the humanities and the joint committee on public service.
Before being elected to the Legislature, Magnani served in the Peace Corps, founded the Ashland Educational Community Center that offers programs for all generations, and was the founding director of the Citizen Involvement Training Project at UMass-Amherst.
Since 2000, Ross has served as vice president of academic and student affairs at Cape Cod Community College, where he helped lead and coordinate staff and the academic programs. During his time there, Ross helped form a program to bring faculty and the business community closer together and led the reorganization of the college due to state budget cuts and the effects of early retirement program.
Ross served as dean of academic and student affairs at Tunxis Community College in Farmington, Conn., before heading to Cape Cod. He also served as assistant vice president of academic affairs at Boston's Bunker Hill Community College, where he served as director of counseling services for 13 years.
Before going into consulting, Trites had two stints at Alexandria Technical College, first as student services coordinator from 1983 to 2000 and then in his current role as assistant to the president for special projects from 2002 to 2004. He helped increase enrollment at the college by 30 percent during his time as students services coordinator and wrote the current curriculum.
During his years away from Alexandria, Trites worked at the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system office, focusing on improving staff and curriculum in the system. He also served as interim provost at Rainy River Community College in International Falls, Minn. Trites started his career in education as a social studies teacher at Parkers Prairie (Minn.) Public High School.
The finalists come out of a group of 150 people who originally expressed interest in the job, said Mary Becotte, executive director of college relations, who served on the presidential search committee. The college used Diversified Search, an executive search firm, to look for candidates, Becotte said.
"We were pleasantly surprised," Becotte said. "The search consultant counseled us to expect 50 to 100 candidates."
The search was not limited to those who work in academia, said Forbes, who also sat on the search committee.
"We have received applications from people from all walks of life," Forbes said. "We are seeing people who are non-traditional candidates. We had a lawyer apply and people who have never been involved with education at all."
Interviews are being conducted both at the Wellesley campus of Mass. Bay and the satellite location in Framingham. Ross and Joseph were interviewed last week. Brock will be interviewed tomorrow, and Magnani and Trites will be in on Thursday.
Trustees have received feedback from students, faculty and staff who have attended the interviews and open forums, Forbes said, and will consider the input when they make their decision. A trustees meeting has been scheduled for 8 a.m. on Friday at the Wellesley campus, Forbes said, where the board will select the next person to lead Mass. Bay Community College.
Information about the candidate interview schedule and other aspects of the search is available at www.massbay.edu.
( Charlie Breitrose can be reached at 508-626-4407 or cbreitro@cnc.com. )
