Over the summer, each member of the president's staff will take over this Wednesday Message to share his or her response on change, learning, students and community colleges.They will reflect on how swirling changes in higher education impact their work, their offices/division, and their focus on student success. This week's message comes from Diane Cecero, General Counsel.
As General Counsel I provide legal advice and counsel to the president, and I am a member of the president’s decision-making team. In my 34-year career as a lawyer (16 here at MCC), I can say that I am more excited about what I am doing now than I have been at any stage of my career.
The breadth of my responsibility is challenging and requires nimbleness and flexibility in skill and demeanor.
Terry O’Banion writes that community colleges live and thrive in the crucible of change. Change comes to my office in a variety of ways: new federal regulations, new state laws, new trustees appointed, new division launched, new employees hired, new campus opened. Many of these changes (unfortunately not all) will help MCC as it embraces the Completion Agenda.
A sample of a given week: negotiating the lease for Sibley’s, assessing whether to sign on to the Veteran’s Administration Principles of Excellence, reviewing Freedom of Information requests, advising student services professionals on a difficult matter, handling an unemployment insurance claim, preparing a defense in a personal injury claim, and preparing the environmental impact statement for our new Kodak site. And, once we ink the purchase agreement for Kodak, I am confident that there will continue to be exciting new opportunities for me on that project.
I embrace the change of adding government relations to my portfolio in September; it will provide opportunities for me to advance the college’s completion agenda in Washington, Albany and here at home.
Please share your thoughts on the blog.
Diane Cecero
President's Office
07/05/2012 |