Tri-C President-elect Dr. Alex Johnson met with Voice News at a meet and greet in his honor May 17 at the Institutional Advancement building in Cleveland.
(Photo by Jack Hagan)

New Prez Shares Strategy To Lead a Transparent Administration

By Bronson Peshlakai
Metro Campus editor-in-chief

Leaders at Cuyahoga Community College chose to bring back a familiar face to take over the reins of the college after long-time president Jerry Sue Thornton retires June 30.

Dr. Alex Johnson, 62, former Metro Campus provost/campus president will become the college’s fourth president in its 50-year celebration.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to serve as president of Cuyahoga Community College,” Johnson said at a meet and greet event May 17. “I look forward to becoming more acquainted with everyone here, particularly our students, to get some understanding of what their needs are and how we might address them.”

Johnson said he’s excited to reacquaint himself with his friends and former colleagues since being the Metro Campus president from 1993 to 2004. Thornton hired Johnson after being college president for one year, and said he brought a sense of pride to the Metro Campus, and that he now brings an intimate knowledge of Tri-C.

“One of the many projects he did there was to get the faculty, staff and students engaged in planting flowers in the spring,” Thornton said. “It was that kind of enthusiasm and collaboration of bringing people together around a project that you could see infiltrated his leadership.”

Watching very closely on who becomes Tri-C’s next leader was Ray Jaskulski, president of the American Association of University Professors, Tri-C Chapter #117, who was one of the member’s of the selection committee – a committee of Tri-C board members, faculty, students and community members who narrowed the pool of applicants down.

Jaskulski said he was very impressed with Johnson’s presentation, his experience and sincerity, plus the fact that his previous experience at Tri-C would be helpful in making him become an effective leader quickly.

“I’m looking forward to working with Dr. Johnson, and I think that the fact that Dr. Thornton was kind enough to encourage the union and the administration to reach an agreement in last fall, prior to the normal negotiation time, which would have been this summer, is a gift to Dr. Johnson in as much as both he and the union can rely on a road map that can guide us for the next three years.”

Upon Johnson’s arrival to Tri-C as president, he must deal with several monumental issues at the college that has the media and community abuzz. Recently the nursing program received notification from the accreditation board that places its seal of approval on Tri-C’s program that several deficiencies exist in the criteria Tri-C must meet. This places the program in jeopardy of losing accreditation.

“We are working very, very diligently to take care of some of the challenges and issues that we have in the nursing program,” Johnson said. “We are making an effort to overcome some of those challenges that we know exist in the program, and that’s a really good thing.”

He pointed out that Tri-C has a stellar nursing program that is still accredited and that students and the community shouldn’t worry because Tri-C is ranked number 3 out of 1200 community colleges in terms of producing nursing graduates.

“That’s a lofty position to have,” he said.

Another issue Johnson faces, is the shroud of secrecy that often leaves decisions and issues the administration has made in a level of shadows difficult to bring to light, even though Ohio’s Sunshine Laws stipulate many of those decisions be made public.

Notably, when The Voice newspaper brought the new hiring policy of mandating student workers to submit to a background check, it took the newspaper’s staff several Public Open Records requests to retrieve documents used to determine a student’s hiring eligibility.

Also, Tri-C officials seemed to be hiding the fact that the nursing program was under scrutiny by the accreditation board, and made no effort to alert the community via the media, something that was required to be reported, according to National League of Nursing guidelines.

At a candidates forum between the two presidential finalists, Johnson, and Dr. Lars Hafner, formerly from State College of Florida-Manatee, Johnson spoke of transparency in his administration as being a key goal. Also, in two interviews with The Voice, and at a meet and greet with students, faculty and staff, he also mentioned transparency being key.

“This is very important; I believe in transparency 100 percent,” Johnson said. “For me it’s about being proactive to ensure that individuals know what’s going on at the institution at all times, whether or not the news is good or bad I believe in that strategy.

There are times when we have to be discreet in terms of how we handle particular affairs like personnel but on those occasions, where it’s permitted, I can assure you that we will be transparent,” he said.

As for our retiring president, Thornton said it’s the dawn of a new era and she is ready to step down into a volunteer role at Tri-C, as she will remain on the board of the Tri-C Foundation.

“So, it’s good bye to that office, it’s good bye to the presidency, but not to the people of the college, and he will become my president at that point,” Thornton said of Johnson. “From my perspective, the new leader is inheriting an outstanding institution with students who are coming here for the right reasons, wanting to get an education for themselves, enrich their families, the staff, administration, faculty, who are just top quality; so, while we are getting a new leader, he’s also getting a great college.”

Next on the agenda is for the board of trustees to negotiate a salary package with Johnson. As the exiting president of Community College of Allegheny County, situated in and around the Pittsburgh area, Johnson leaves a salary of $250,454. Board Trustee Jerry Kelsheimer said the college is currently doing a market study, and will take Hafner’s and Thornton’s salary into consideration for determining Johnson’s pay. According to Thornton’s last contract, she made $261,590 a year.

By Jeremy Hopkins

Last week, in the Health and Technologies Center atrium, two forums were held. These forums were introducing the two finalists for the campus president at the Western campus, and were open to all. While both men were eloquent and excited to be here, only one would be selected to replace Dr. Patricia Rowell. These were a chance to hear the finalists’ positions and answer some questions from the audience of mostly faculty and administration.

Dr. Ron Liss and Dr. Kojo Quartey were the finalists, and are about as opposite as possible in their administrative philosophies. In the end, Dr. Liss was selected over Dr. Quartey, having won the audience over with his responses and explanation of his philosophy.

Dr. Liss answered questions across a broad spectrum of categories including technology, diversity, communication, and what brought him to Tri C. His experience as the vice president of academic affairs at the Santa Fe Community College will be useful running the Western campus. There will be some transition shock particularly since Santa Fe is one of only a few institutions of education in the community, while there are several here.

This artificial isolation enabled Dr. Liss to broaden his views and philosophy. It is important to him to welcome the adjunct staff as part of a family, which led him to use approaches like paid retreat days where the adjunct faculty would get training and workshop support to help them get their message across. At Santa Fe, adjunct teachers do not have many choices of employers, so developing a program to keep them was critical.

His previous post also brought diversity to the forefront, as over 170 countries are represented in the student body. When asked how he handles diversity, he responded that it is important to “know how to listen to people, (to) get them to tell their story in their way.” He does this through his stance on communication, which he argues you “cannot over-communicate.” His meetings all start and end with something he terms “rumor control,” which is his way of answering concerns and questions, and setting the record straight. As Dr. Liss puts it, “conversation needs the message to go both ways.” In order for him to do this, he wants to see in your eyes first.

Dr. Liss firmly believes you can communicate in ten minute meetings. And he often would rather visit directly – “go to your space” in his words – than bring you to his. Dr. Liss gladly selects the role of the decision maker, and demonstrated this with a humorous story that anybody with kids will instantly recognize: “because I said so” is not as effective as listening and addressing concerns brought before him. He tries to bring opposing ideas together to work out a compromise.

Dr. Liss’s roots are in industrial arts and developing training. Both embrace technology, but he feels that it is essential but to use it in its most effective form, not to just embrace technology because it is there. One way is to work with the community high schools to make sure that students have mastered the education necessary for the college level. Any student can use a search engine to pull papers, but mastery is more than good grades. Dr. Liss is fighting the need to have grade point averages for program admittance, and is attempting to change the screening process to a more proactive stance from after the fact: redirecting into underserved fields, entrance interviews over grades and prerequisites, and career services to diagnose abilities and strengths. Selective admissions do exist, and although he does not fully believe in it, he admits it might be needed.

The way that Tri C already handles much of these issues is one of the things that drew him here. Dr. Liss had heard of Tri C, because we are well known throughout the community college circuit. He had visited previously, using us as a model to build a technology center at Santa Fe. He stated it was the strength of the institution and the mix of courses that interested him. More proof of Dr. Liss’s philosophy that you never act on one side of the story: he brought his family in to the consideration of becoming the campus president. Dr. Liss shared that before he picked Tri C, his wife looked at the community, the neighborhoods, the price ranges of properties, and said “this is a place I could live,” before he took a look at the school, doing the research about the culture, the diversity, and the programs, and responding “this is a place I could work.”

Dr. Quartey was no less impressed with Tri C, using us as a model in his work at Davenport. Having a business focus, Dr. Quartey answered many of the questions from a business standpoint: frequent meetings, embracing technology to spread the message via blogs, postings, and traditional announcements, and offering incentives to faculty to volunteer their time in something that interested them about campus. Dr. Quartey was a very enthusiastic speaker, with many people agreeing to comments of his. His approach is best described as a management style that respects individuals to empower them to be recognized.

Dr. Liss mentioned that he would rather be remembered for playing a part in other people’s accomplishments, being an advocate of facilitation instead of recognition. Sir Isaac Newton once said, “if I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” From the forum that he presented, Dr. Liss certainly could be one of those giants, and we are fortunate to have him here.

Dr. Ron Liss comes from Sante Fe Community College in New Mexico and will replace Dr. Patricia Rowell as Tri-C Western Campus president.

By Bronson Peshlakai

Cuyahoga Community College officials announced late Wednesday that Dr. Ron Liss will be the next Western Campus president.

“We look forward to Dr. Liss arriving in Cleveland as Dr. Patricia Rowell’s successor; as we wish Dr. Rowell farewell and the best of luck in her retirement,” said Dr. Belinda Miles, executive vice president of academic and student affairs at Tri-C, in a release.

Liss leaves his job as vice president of academic affairs at Sante Fe Community College in New Mexico, where he’s been since 2007.

His academic background highlights a Ph.D in education leadership and management from American University in Washington D.C., a masters degree in instructional systems design from University of Maryland, and a bachelor of science in education from the State University College of New York at Buffalo.

Dr. Patricia Rowell will retire as Tri-C Western Campus president in June, a position she has held for the last seven years.

Liss replaces Dr. Patricia Rowell who is retiring in June who has been in her position as president the last seven years.

Women Challengers Softball Team, Spring 2013 Regional Champions.

Tri-C Women Challengers Softball Team has won the XII Regionals! They are going to Nationals next week (May 14-18). They will be playing in the NJCAA Division national championships in Clinton, Mississippi.

On May 10, the Challengers defeated Oakland Community College in Mississippi with a 4-0 win.

Head Coach, Bryan Komlos, was very pleased with his team this season, with some words of excitement, he said “On a wet, rain soaked day the Tri-C Challengers had one game to win to move on to the National Tournament. In front of them was a rematch with Oakland. After the 2 hr rain delay play resumed in the second with the score, 0-0. In the 3rd Lexi Sheets hit a single and while in a “pickle” Kelly Kirkpatrick scored the winning run. To add to the lead, Jill Coyle hit her first HR of the tournament scoring Jacque Vavro and Lexi Sheets. The Challengers started the tournament as the number 1 seed and only gave up 2 runs for the tournament.”

The Women Challengers now have a chance to win the National Championship, and become National Champipns!

Go Challengers!

By: Sara Liptak and Bronson Peshlaki

by: Jeremy Hopkins

Cuyahoga Community College is hosting a public forum for the two candidates to present themselves at the Metro Campus tomorrow. But before they go on stage and answer questions, the Board of Trustees will be having a closed session at 8:00 AM on Friday, May 10. While it is not unusual to have a closed session, it is unusual to have one immediately before the forum in the search for a new school President. The Voice will be keeping an ear out for updates as they become available.

If you attend the forum and have comments, views, or opinions, we would love to hear them! Please keep your submissions to 250 words or less, and send them to Jeremy Hopkins or Bronson Peshlakai at The Voice. Jeremy can be reached via email at jerhpk@yahoo.com, or @Quercetum42 on Twitter.