Interim CEO
Christina Royal will serve as interim president of the Connecticut State Community College. Her term runs from August 1 to June 30, 2026.
Royal previously was president of Holyoke Community College (HCC) in Massachusetts before retiring in 2023 and starting her own consulting business. She is also a 2024-2025 Judith Block McLaughlin President-in-Residence in the Harvard Graduate School of Education. In 2023, she was appointed by Gov. Maura Healey to the 13-member Board of Higher Education for Massachusetts.
“As a collaborative changemaker and innovator, she is well-positioned to build on CT State’s momentum by guiding the development of the college’s first strategic plan and advancing its vision to become one of the nation’s leading community colleges,” said John Maduko, interim chancellor of Connecticut State Colleges and Universities.
Prior to HCC, Royal was provost and vice president of academic affairs at Inver Hills Community College in Minnesota, and also associate vice president of e-learning and innovation at Cuyahoga Community College (Ohio).
Obituary
Terry O’Banion, the long-time former leader of the League for Innovation in the Community College, passed away on July 25 after a long illness. He was 89.
O’Banion was president of the League from 1983 to 1999 and executive director from 1975 to 1981. He remained at the League, serving as a director of special projects, retiring in 2011.
In retirement, O’Banion served as a senior professor of practice at Kansas State University. He also continued to work in the community college field, often writing articles and books, presenting at conferences and consulting for various organizations. His most recent book, co-authored with Maggie Culp and published in 2021, was titled Student Success in the Community College: What Really Works? O’Banion also created an archive that lists all his books, reports and articles.
Earlier in his career, O’Banion was a dean of students at Central Florida Community College from 1961 to 1965, founding dean at Santa Fe Community College (Florida) from 1965 to 1967, and vice chancellor for education at the Dallas County Community College District (Texas) from 1981 to 1983. He also served at various universities, including Florida State University, the University of Hawaii, University of California, Berkeley, University of Illinois and others. He got his start in education in 1958 teaching at a Florida high school.
Over his career, O’Banion has been recognized dozens of times for his work in the field. In 2023 alone he received the Senior Scholar Award from the Council for the Study of Community Colleges; International Honorary Membership of Phi Theta Kappa; was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC); and the League created a new award in his honor, the Terry O’Banion Legacy Award. He also received the AACC Leadership Award in 1994.
Appointments
James “Chip” Barton is now associate vice president of organizational development and chief human resources officer at Bluegrass Community and Technical College in Kentucky. Most recently, he was director of HR outsourcing and assessments at Hanna Resource Group.
Kerry Pedraza is the new executive director of the Clark State College (Ohio) Foundation. She previously served as executive director of United Way of Clark, Champaign and Madison Counties for more than a decade.
