I am writing to share with you a difficult decision that I presented to the Board of Trustees last evening. After 21 years of serving as your president, I announced to the trustees that I plan to step down from my role as president on July 31, 2027, one day prior to the anticipated arrival of CCBC’s new president. Then I will officially retire from CCBC on July 31, 2028 upon completing a long promised sabbatical to write a book about community college leadership built on the transformation of our three colleges into one.
Since 1998 when those three colleges merged to become one, CCBC has grown into a strong institution with a well deserved reputation that spreads from local to national and everything in between. But our most important achievement is that we have truly become a student centric institution with a strong reputation for being a college on the cutting edge.
Over the past two decades, we have weathered enrollment declines, financial downturns, internal discord, political unrest, government shutdowns, a pandemic and both the joy and challenge of recreating CCBC as a college well positioned for a post pandemic world. Through both progress and turmoil, we never lost sight of our fundamental mission: to serve students. Twenty-one years later, we stand as the strong and vibrant institution that our county, our region and our state need us to be. The college is fiscally sound; our reputation is strong; the way forward is clear.
While my message today will leave some feeling a little sad, others a little happy, and still others a little fearful, let us continue to celebrate the college we have become and continue our forward momentum. Over the course of the summer, we will get used to—and even grow excited about –this impending change. But I make this pledge to you. I have no intention of going through the year ahead as a lame duck. I have a laundry list of projects to finish and projects to begin over the course of the coming year. I intend to remain fully engaged as your president until an exciting new leader arrives on August 1, 2027.
Although it is too soon to make sad speeches, let me say that I cannot think of enough words to thank all of you who have been on this 21 year journey with me. We can all be proud of the job we have done together to create the college we are today, one of Maryland’s finest. Remember the New York Times quote I shared with you earlier this year: “Some look to the future; Others shape it!” That’s CCBC! So we have much work to do together before July 31, 2027. I treasure the 21 years I have spent working with all of you. When that day comes, we will know that the time is right to begin the next iteration of CCBC’s legacy. In the meantime, my plan, as the rodeo cowboys say, is to “ride it to the buzzer!”