President on the move
Falecia D. Williams will be the ninth president of Prince George’s Community College in Maryland, effective in August. She comes from Valencia College in Orlando, Florida, where she was president of the Downtown and West campuses. Williams has been associated with Valencia for 22 years, serving in an array of positions: director of dual enrollment; director of transition program; dean for workforce development; assistant vice president for workforce development; interim provost for the West Campus, then president; and president of the college’s Downtown Campus. Prior to Valencia College, Williams served for 10 years as a K-12 educator and coordinator.
New CEOs
John Buxton has been named the fifth president of Durham Technical Community College in North Carolina, effective mid-July. He currently leads the Education Innovations Group, a consulting practice he founded in 2009 that works with states, foundations, nonprofit organizations and companies focused on improving public education. Buxton also is an at-large member of the state board of education, where he works directly with the community college system on a range of education and workforce-related issues. In addition, he is an adjunct assistant teaching professor on public policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Buxton has worked closely with the state’s community colleges dating back to 2001 when, as senior education advisor to Gov. Mike Easley and later as deputy state superintendent of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, he successfully led the effort to implement early college high schools across the state.
Christopher English will be the 10th president of Southeastern Community College in North Carolina. He currently is vice president of economic and workforce development continuing education at Blue Ridge Community College (BRCC) in North Carolina. Previously, English – a community college alumnus – was dean of advanced technology at the college. His work in program development for the workforce at the local, regional and state levels has led to the curriculum design and implementation of technical programs such as brewing, distillation and fermentation, automotive light-duty diesel, high-pressure die casting, and apprenticeships for advanced manufacturing.
Lloyd Holmes, a veteran educator with a track record of removing barriers to student success, will become the next president of De Anza College (California) on July 1. Holmes, 49, is currently vice president of student services at Monroe Community College in Rochester, New York, a position he has held for six years. Holmes also has provided statewide leadership in the State University of New York (SUNY) system. He mentored sister colleges in implementing the SUNY Guided Pathways model, having successfully led that initiative at Monroe, and served on the SUNY Food Insecurity Task Force, formed to address student hunger. Holmes has been an administrator for more than 25 years at colleges and universities in Mississippi, South Carolina, Massachusetts and New York, and has taught graduate and undergraduate students.
George Pimentel will serve as the sixth president of Jackson State Community College (Tennessee), effective July 1. A U.S. Army infantry veteran, he has been vice president of academic affairs at Volunteer State Community College since 2014 and has 26 years of teaching and academic administrative experience. Pimentel moved to Volunteer State in 2001 as a professor of history, and continued teaching during his tenures as chair of the Department of History, Economics, Geography and Political Science from 2005 to 2009, and as director of the honors program from 2011 to 2014, when he was elevated to the college’s chief academic officer as vice president of academic affairs.
Kudos
Sandra Kurtinitis, president of Community College of Baltimore County (Maryland), has been named a 2020 Influential Marylander by The Daily Record newspaper. The award honors individuals who have made significant impacts in their field and continue to be leaders in the state. These individuals are selected by The Daily Record’s editors for their significant contributions and for their leadership in Maryland in the following areas: civic leadership, communications, education, finance, freestyle, general business, health care, law, philanthropy, real estate and technology.
Obituary
Kenneth Kalb, who served for nearly a decade as the third president of the Community College of Vermont (CCV), passed away on May 30. He was 86. Kalb was president of the college in Montpelier, Vermont, from 1983 to 91, when he retired. During his tenure, enrollment at the two-year, nontraditional institution grew by 50 percent, growing into the second-largest college in the state. Kalb also oversaw CCV’s transformation from a decentralized network of offices and classrooms to a cohesive, statewide institution. He expanded the college’s footprint to all regions of the state, putting CCV within 25 miles of 90 percent of Vermont’s population through 12 academic centers. Prior to CCV, Kalb served for 10 years as vice president of operations for American College Testing (ACT) in Iowa City, Iowa. His professional career began as a systems engineer for IBM in Kansas City, Missouri, and his academic career began as registrar at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, from 1962 to 1966. From 1966 to 1973, he was a management consultant in Boston and Toronto and executive director of VITA (Volunteers in Technical Assistance for Third World countries) in Schenectady, New York.
Appointments
April Fleming is the new dean of education at Florida SouthWestern State College. Previously, she was director of education programs at State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota.
