Kudos
Jerry Wallace, president of Virginia’s Danville Community College (DCC), has received the Rural Community College Alliance’s Rising Star Award, which recognizes emerging leaders at rural community colleges who demonstrate exceptional promise and dedication to advancing their institutions’ missions. Among the examples of Wallace’s leadership, the alliance cited DCC’s increasing enrollments and Wallace’s “People and Places” tours, where he meets with local leaders to strengthen ties between DCC and its service area.
Obituary
Ann Bolman, president of Western Dakota Technical College (WDT), has unexpectedly passed away. She has led the South Dakota college since 2015, after serving for 25 years at two-year colleges in Texas.
Bolman was known for her commitment to preparing students in WDT’s large rural service area for the workforce through accessible, career-focused programs and to use those programs to fuel local and regional economies.
“Her unwavering dedication and visionary leadership profoundly impacted Western Dakota Technical College and the lives of countless individuals within the region,” the college said in a release.
Prior to WDT, Bolman was vice president of instruction and vice president for campus services at Lone Star College. She also was vice president of instruction at McLennan Community College. From 1990 to 2009, Bolman served at Grayson College as a reading and writing instructor, director of developmental education, assistant dean and dean.
Bolman also recently served as first vice president of the American Technical Education Association, which focuses on postsecondary technical education, with an emphasis on professional development.
Appointments
Laurie Saylor has been promoted to dean of the School of Trades, Advanced Technologies and Sustainability and the School of Business, Professional Studies and Education at Santa Fe Community College (New Mexico). She previously served as the associate dean and most recently held the position of interim dean of both of those schools.
At Montgomery County Community College (Pennsylvania), Rosann Bar is the inaugural dean of academic innovation, and Isabelle Porter is dean of health sciences. Bar was previously dean of business and social sciences at New Jersey’s Ocean County College. Porter, a 2009 MCCC alumna, has served as an adjunct instructor at the college since 2019, and was mostly recently director of the physical therapist assistant program.
