You surprised many people two years ago when you left the your position as VP at ComEd to join City Colleges. Why the move?I’m an alumnus of City Colleges of Chicago. I graduated from Olive-Harvey College, then transferred to the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). This job gave me the opportunity to come in and try to set up an institution that ensured that every student got the same opportunity I did despite their circumstances. I often say that I left a career to take on a calling.
What are the major goals of the Reinvention plan?The first is to ensure students here receive more credentials of economic value. Simply put, that means: the credentials you earn…help put you on a pathway toward a career, help you advance in your current career or are transferable to a four-year institution. The second goal is ensuring more students transfer to four-year institutions and start as juniors. The third goal is to increase the outcome for students needing remediation. We have to figure out how to get those students remediated quicker and change the way we delivered remediation. Our fourth goal is to ensure our adult education population completes what they came here for and have a strong bridge into college-level courses.
In the past couple years, how have you seenReinvention make an impact?We just reported a 3 percent increase in our graduation rate, which took our graduation rate to 10 percent, a statistic we’re still not comfortable with by any means. And it’s the highest graduation rate that it’s been in a decade. Transfer agreements have been signed with a number of institutions, including my alma mater, IIT, and UIC, DePaul and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Full article at
TCW Mag