PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ralph Newell
Phone: 703.385.2419
Email: [email protected]
Fairfax, Va.— Diverse: Issues In Higher Education is pleased to announce that Dr. Curtis Ivery will be the recipient of the 2020 Diverse Champions Award.
Ivery took over as chancellor of Wayne County Community College District (WCCCD) on September 1, 1995. Under his leadership, WCCCD, the largest urban community college district in Michigan, has transformed into a thriving and inclusively pluralistic six-campus district that serves more than 70,000 students a year.
During his more than three decades of work, Ivery has brought together academic, community, business and government leaders to develop strategies to expand educational equity and economic mobility in southeast Michigan, as well as throughout the nation.
Prior to becoming leader of WCCCD, Ivery served in executive positions at community colleges in Texas and Arkansas. As well, he served as the commissioner and CEO of human services in the cabinet of Bill Clinton, when the former President was governor of Arkansas.
The April 2, 2020 edition of Diverse will include a tribute to Ivery. The Diverse Champions Award will be presented to him at a joint reception hosted by Diverse and the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD), on Sunday, March 29, from 5-7 p.m., at the Potomac room in Maryland’s Gaylord National Harbor, during the annual meeting of the American Association of Community Colleges.
About this Award:
The Diverse Champions Award recognizes community college leaders who have shown an unwavering commitment to equal opportunity and access for all, particularly at the community college level.
The first awardee, in 2012, was Dr. John E. Roueche, director of the Community College Leadership Program at the University of Texas at Austin. Other recipients have been:
2013 Dr. Walter Bumphus, executive director, American Association of Community Colleges
2014 Dr. Jerry Sue Thornton, president, Cuyahoga Community College
2015 Dr. Eduardo Padrón, president, Miami Dade Community College
2016 Dr. Terry O’Banion, former CEO & president, League for Innovation
2017 Dr. Kay McClenney, former executive director, CCCSE
2018 Dr. Suanne Rouche, former executive director, NISOD
2018 Dr. Christine McPhail, founding director, CCLP at Morgan State University
2019 Dr. Ken Atwater, president, Hillsborough Community College
For over three decades, Diverse: Issues In Higher Education has been America’s premier source of timely news, provocative commentary, insightful interviews and in-depth special reports on diversity in higher education. Savvy individuals who appreciate the crucial and ever-changing role that higher education plays in the lives of student and professionals, and their families and communities, make reading Diverse a regular habit.
