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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

President's Wednesday Message


As we look to "hire the future" of MCC, we might actually be talking about going "back to the future." The history of all community colleges, including MCC, can be told in measures of risk and return. The very creation of community colleges was a risk: what would happen to traditional notions of "the academy" if the doors to higher education were to open more widely? The return on this risk has been made manifest hundreds of thousands of times in the accomplishments of community college students, whose diversity has brought new richness and depth to the classroom and new voices into the academic chorus.

In their founding, individual community colleges also took risks. So many colleges were being established at the same moment that they took some significant--but informed--risks when they hired their first faculty and staff members. The founding fathers and mothers of most community colleges were not traditional academy folks--they looked different, thought differently, and had taken varying paths to the community college movement. In many ways, they resembled the students they wished to serve. Within their diversity, one consistent thread wove together these higher education pioneers: their desire to create a vibrant and successful community of learners.

We are now approaching the eve of MCC's golden anniversary, and this upcoming milestone offers us a fitting time to reflect on the incredible rewards that our college, our students, and our community have reaped because of these initial risks. The success of our students is directly related to the power, strength, and quality of our faculty and staff. And, the innovative and creative strategies for engaging students that have led to such success at MCC directly grow from the diversity of background and thought of our faculty and staff.

It's hard to believe, but MCC will soon turn 50, an age when it may be tempting to trade risk not for possible return but for certain comfort. Yet, all around, we can see that the college still has the spirit, enthusiasm, and ideals of its youth. You don't have to dig very deeply at the college to find a treasure trove of riches that can be traced back to a chance, a risk that someone at MCC took on a hire with more energy than experience or an intriguing idea with more potential than precedent.

So, as we hire and plan for the future, let's remember our heady youth not with the golden glow of nostalgia but with a well-earned appreciation for MCC's diverse and innovative path to excellence. Without question, we must always assess the risk of our decisions, but in so doing, we cannot forget the priceless rewards as well.

Remember, you can be part of the conversation at my President's Wednesday Message blog, <<https://www.monroecc.edu/blogs>>.

Anne Kress
President
12/02/2009