Presidential Search

The mission of Montgomery College is to empower our students to succeed. This simply stated goal is inherently complex as students come to MC with more and more varied and diverse needs and goals. Our vision is one of seamless access, holistic support, and transformational teaching and learning leading to successful completion and equitable outcomes for all students. We are committed to high-quality teaching and advising, to high-functioning academic and administrative operations within Montgomery College, to breaking down barriers to learning, and to rich and productive relationships with partner institutions and the community. 

Maintaining affordability, balanced with upholding the institutional resources necessary for delivering quality education and support, is a critical foundation for student success. We aim to use our resources prudently, to make the case for public and philanthropic support candidly and transparently, and to seek new operational funding streams through innovative entrepreneurial activities.  

Montgomery College recognizes the close relationship between its mission for student success and economic opportunity and workforce development within Montgomery County. Opportunities and challenges stand out in Montgomery County for promoting career development for students, furthering workforce development for the county, and supporting and enhancing broad-based county economic success. There is room for innovation in the ways the College can advance in these efforts.  

Equity and inclusion are institutional values clearly articulated in the policies and goals of Montgomery College, the Board of Trustees, and our administration. We seek to be an anti-racist institution. Our vision of radical inclusion on our highly diverse campuses and in our communities is to have an environment in which everyone feels welcome and where inclusive practices contribute to unhindered learning. We work to make learning building blocks such as language acquisition resources tailored to recent immigrants and embedded student support available in ways that create opportunity and not obstacles. Our vision extends to safe, healthy, productive, and civically aware neighborhoods and community life, where diverse people and ideas flourish. 

In spite of the breadth of Montgomery College facilities and programs, including three campuses, two workforce centers, and three Community Engagement Centers across the county, we recognize there is more we can do to reach our student populations and respond to their needs. One area, under exploration now, is to expand campus facilities to the eastern part of the county where many potential students now reside. We recognize that four-year degree options are difficult to access for many of our students in fields that are priorities for them and that align with the needs of local employers. The prospect of incorporating four-year degrees in our offerings, in partnerships or directly, and in settings accessible to our student base, is important to explore. The prospect of virtual communities or campuses within the county, based on new technologies and recent experiences with online learning and social media, also warrants attention. 

Cultivating a Montgomery College workforce that is innovative, competitively rewarded, culturally competent and relevant is a key value of the institution, including sustaining and advancing a coherent, shared labor philosophy between management and the collective bargaining units. Maintaining and working with an effective and cohesive senior leadership team is essential, as well as ensuring that faculty and employees at all aspects of the College are informed and are involved in the College participatory governance system.  

Montgomery College stands as one of the leading institutions in Montgomery County. The president is expected to serve on boards and commissions within the county and beyond, and, especially with the College’s proximity to Washington D.C., may frequently be consulted on national policy issues. Community partnerships are essential to advancing our concept of student success, especially for underserved and underengaged populations, and the president is expected to join in a leadership role with our partner institutions, particularly MCPS and USG, and to facilitate cooperative efforts among the county’s broad network of nonprofit associations, communities of faith, and other groups. More broadly, the College, through the work of its faculty, institutes, athletics, and programming, has a role, and great potential, to be an economic and cultural leader within the county and region. Our faculty demonstrate community-engaged scholarship. We are committed to advancing learning that supports engagement and participation in the political, cultural, and service life of our community, in civics, and in the principle of a community-engaged college.