RPCV Dave Magnani finalist for new president of Massachusetts Bay Community College
College wants a leader with ambition
By Charlie Breitrose / News Staff Writer
Sunday, December 12, 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.
[Excerpt]
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.
