Interim CEO
Anthony Ross will serve as interim president at Bergen Community College (New Jersey), effective January 1. He has served as the college’s interim vice president of student affairs since September. Ross brings experience as an interim president to Bergen, previously holding the same role at Metropolitan Community College – Penn Valley in Kansas City, Missouri, for more than a year. Prior to that appointment, Ross was vice president for student affairs at California State University, Los Angeles, where he worked since 2000 in various capacities, including as an associate professor in the Charter College of Education.
CEO retirement
Charlene Dukes, president of Prince George’s Community College (PGCC) in Maryland, will retire on June 30, 2020. She became the institution’s eighth and first female president in 2007.
“President Dukes is a talented educator and leader who is passionate about Prince George’s Community College, the county and the region. We are pleased that she has served this community as president for 13 years,” said Sidney Gibson, chair of college’s board of trustees.
Over her 13 years at the helm of PGCC, the college has forged a partnership with the local school district that led to the development of the Academy for Health Sciences, the first middle college in Maryland, a Teacher Academy, two P-Tech schools and the 3D Scholars Program with the University of Maryland Global Campus. Dukes also co-chaired the task force for the development of the Prince George’s County Promise Scholarship.
Dukes guided the PGCC’s realignment of organizational structures and program offerings to create connections between and among the three key components of the 2019-2021 Strategic Plan: student success, regional impact and organizational excellence. The college’s work with the Ensuring Student Success Institute, the Association of American Colleges and Universities’ Roadmap Project, Achieving the Dream and the American Association of Community Colleges’ (AACC) Pathways Project heightened the need for a reimagining of the work and commitment to the nearly 40,000 students served annually at PGCC.
Dukes’ leadership and interest in educational excellence have involved her in a number of professional and community organizations, including AACC, where she served on its board and as board chair in 2016. Washingtonian magazine recognized Dukes as one of the 100 most powerful women in the Washington metropolitan area in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017. She was inducted into the Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame in 2013, and received the Dr. Reginald Wilson Diversity Leadership Award from the American Council on Education in 2014.
Dukes served as vice president for student services at PGCC prior to becoming president.
Appointments
Twyla Casey Wells is the new vice president of advancement and community relations at Johnston Community College (JCC) in North Carolina. She has worked at the college for 19 years, serving previously as public information officer and grants director, director of resource development and most recently as executive director of the JCC Foundation.
College of Southern Maryland (CSM) has announced the appointment of three new members to its leadership team. Ellen Flowers-Fields is now associate vice president of continuing education and workforce development. Erin Ebersole will serve as associate vice president of planning, institutional effectiveness and research. Sybol Cook Anderson will serve as executive director of diversity and inclusion. Ebersole’s and Anderson’s appointments are effective January 6.
Flowers-Fields most recently led CSM’s workforce development efforts as interim vice president and previous to that was regional director of the Small Business Development Center. Ebersole comes from California Lutheran University, where she was a major gift officer for the last two and a half years. Anderson previously served as chief diversity officer at Loyola University in New Orleans.
At Harford Community College in Maryland, Trevor S. Jackson has been appointed to vice president for finance and administration, and Timothy Sherwood has been named the next vice president for academic affairs. Jackson previously was vice president for administration and finance at Hagerstown Community College in Maryland. Sherwood comes from Oakland Community College in Michigan, where he was associate vice chancellor for academic affairs.
