Wayne County Community College Chancellor Curtis Ivery received the CEO of the Year Award from the American Association of Community Colleges for his management of the multi-campus institution that serves more than 70,000 students a year.
Ivery received the inaugural award last month from the association of nearly 1,000 community colleges.
The AACC acknowledged Ivery’s leadership in expanding the community college’s healthcare and workforce development programs among other organizational successes.
Related: How does a Detroit community college student get ahead?
“For the past several years, the shared vision and mission of our leadership team has kept us moving forward,” Ivery said. “Through the fog of the pandemic, and real hardship experienced by many of our students – with the understanding that especially during these times, the communities that we serve needed an open door to new opportunity and the hope of a better life through higher education.”
In a BridgeDetroit interview in 2021, Ivery said Wayne County Community College District strives to serve the needs of Detroit students, most of which are part time and nearly 40% are first-generation. The Chancellor said his students need access to affordable quality child care, stable housing, transportation and food options.
“(Dr. Ivery) brought stability and integrity to a struggling institution,” said Gunder Myran, former president of Washtenaw Community College. “He has created one of the most outstanding community colleges in our nation.”
Ivery has served as chancellor of Wayne County Community College since 1995.
Ivery is also a panelist at the Michigan Chronicle’s Pancakes and Politics event May 19 to discuss how COVID has impacted education in Detroit.
It would be great to know how many students have graduated from the college lately given the leadership for 27 years of the highest paid community college leader in the State of Michigan and the sizing of his name significantly larger than the institution’s in signage around the Downtown Campus. Ever since the passage of the permanent millage, news about the success of students and high performing faculty would support such an award for “transformational leadership.”