News CEOs
Tyrone Jackson will serve as the ninth president of Mississippi Delta Community College (MDCC), effective July 1. He is currently vice president of the Utica Campus and administrative services at Hinds Community College in Mississippi. He has also served at the college as an associate vice president for student services/dean of students. He began his professional career at Delta State University, progressing through the administrative ranks from admissions counselor/recruiter, to associate director of housing and residence life/director of multi-cultural affairs, and later to director of graduate studies, assistant dean and interim dean, before coming to MDCC.
William Mullaney is the next president of SUNY Corning Community College, effective July 1. He is currently vice president of academic affairs at Bergen Community College in New Jersey. He previously was assistant to the executive vice chancellor at the Maricopa Community Colleges District in Arizona. At Bergen Community College, Mullaney has worked with stakeholders to increase the rate of graduation by 7 percent over a three-year period. He collaborated with area high schools to open the college’s first early college programs. He worked closely with college deans, faculty and staff to establish new academic bachelor’s-level and master’s-level programs in both the arts and the sciences, as well as online programs that are currently serving hundreds of students.
Patricia L. Rogers will be the next president of Lake Superior College in Minnesota, effective July 1. She has served Winona State University as provost and vice president for Academic Affairs since 2013. Prior to that, Rogers served Bemidji State University from 2007 to 2013 as the founding dean of health sciences and human ecology and the school of graduate studies. From 2006 to 2007, she took leave from BSU to serve as the founding dean of the School of Education and Graduate Studies at Valley City State University in North Dakota. Rogers also served BSU as an assistant professor, associate professor or professor from 1996 to 2006. From 1986 to 1996, she was co-leader of the health studies at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
Monique Umphrey has been named president of Houston Community College’s Northeast Campus, effective May 6. She is currently vice president of workforce innovation and dean for information technology at Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C) in Ohio. One of Umphrey’s many accomplishments at Tri-C has been establishing Bridge to Bachelor pathways to align college credits for Cleveland Metropolitan School District students between high school and four-year colleges. She also led the IT Center of Excellence textbook affordability initiative to use open educational resources and established partnerships with industry, including IBM and Apple. Prior to joining Tri-C, Umphrey worked for 20 years in several industries and for such companies as Med Solutions, ACS (Xerox) and Bridgestone/Firestone.
Jermaine Williams will assume the position of president at Nassau Community College (NCC) in New York, effective July 1. He has served as vice president for student affairs at North Shore Community College for the last four years. Before that, Williams held roles of increasing responsibility at Northeastern Illinois University, including: assistant dean of academic development; assistant vice president for access, transition and success; and vice president for student affairs (acting). He has also worked as a director of student initiatives at the Community College of Philadelphia; coordinator of first-year student programs and academic advisor at Temple University; and assistant to the director of the university freshman center and assistant coordinator of self-pace program at St. John’s University.
CEOs on the move
Rebecca “Becky” Rowley has been named president of Santa Fe Community College in New Mexico. She currently is president of Clovis Community College (CCC) in New Mexico, where she has led since 2011. Prior to becoming president there, Rowley was executive vice president of academics and student services at the college. Before moving into administration, she taught English as a full- time faculty member at Clovis for seven years. As president, Rowley focused on moving CCC towards higher persistence rates (from 34 percent to 84 percent) and creating a culture of collaboration. In 2013, Clovis was named one of the Best Places to Work by the Albuquerque Journal. Since 2011, CCC has also created new programs of study, including a physical therapist assistant program. Since 2015, Rowley has been chair of the New Mexico Independent Community Colleges.
Kudos
Patricia Gentile, president of North Shore Community College (NSCC) in Massachusetts, was recently sworn in as one of Gov. Charlie Baker’s appointees to the Community Mitigation Subcommittee of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. The Governor’s Office reached out to Gentile for this particular committee position because of her 14 years of experience at Atlantic Cape Community College (New Jersey) in workforce development with the Atlantic City Casino Industry, prior to joining NSCC.
Lawrence Nespoli, who retired in 2018 as president of the New Jersey Council of County Colleges (NJCCC), has received the inaugural New Jersey Community College Legacy Award as recognition of his many contributions to the state’s community colleges and its students while serving as president for 27 years. In addition, NJCCC has created a new award, the Lawrence Nespoli Community College Leadership Award, which will be presented each year to a leader in the New Jersey community college system. Among his many accomplishments as president of the council, Nespoli played a major role in creating the New Jersey Student Tuition Assistance Rewards Scholarship, the first state-sponsored program of its kind in the country to provide full tuition community college scholarships to top high school graduates.
Appointments
Robert Cofield is now director of school district partnerships at Waubonsee Community College in Illinois. He has served as the high school partnership manager at the college since 2015. Previously, Cofield was a secondary school teacher at West Aurora School District 129 and District School Board of Collier County in Naples, Florida, for 17 years.
Rabbi Laurie Coskey has been appointed executive director of the San Diego Continuing Education Foundation. She has been serving San Diego Continuing Education (SDCE) since April 2018 as executive director of San Diego Gateway to College and Career and previously was president and CEO of United Way of San Diego County.
Benjamin Mohler has been named vice president of resource development at the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. Mohler most recently was assistant vice president for development at Eastern Kentucky University. His background includes positions in philanthropy at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Cedarville University and University of Texas at Austin.
Leigh Sata is now interim vice chancellor of general services at California’s Peralta Community College District. He comes from Santa Rosa Junior College, where he was senior director of capital projects. Previously, Sata was executive bond manager for Solano Community College, and a project executive and construction program manager for the Swinerton Management and Consulting team.
