Mesa Community College reorganizes administrative leadership
Tammy Robinson, president of Mesa Community College, has eliminated the executive vice president for student and academic affairs role, and plans to work within MCCCD policy to determine the next steps for the senior associate vice president role once the vice president for academic affairs and vice president of student affairs positions are filled.
The decision comes as the Robinson administration realigns with past MCC structures , developed by former MCC President Rich Haney, who served from July 2018 to Jan. 2020.
Robinson‘s administration will evaluate possible options within MCCCD policy for the current positions of two senior associate vice presidents held by Nora Reyes and Carmen Prado Newland, respectively.
The new vice president roles will act independently from each other, removing the “senior associate” portion of the title and ending the expectation that they would report to an unfilled executive vice president position.
Robinson’s administration will replace the current senior associate positions with a Vice President for Academic Affairs, Vice President for Student Affairs, and Vice President for Information Technology.
Robinson has encouraged each of the current senior associate vice presidents to apply for newly created positions.
The choice to alter the administration came as an effort by the Robinson administration to realign with other district-wide structures..
“MCC was the only college in our District with an executive vice president of student and academic affairs supported by two senior associate vice presidents,” said Robinson.
Lori Berquam, former MCC interim president, was the last person to hold the executive vice president role in 2020 before then acting as MCC’s interim president until Robinson was named a permanent replacement one year ago.
“Realigning with the remainder of the District to have a vice president for academic affairs and a vice president for student affairs creates consistency in structures and equity across the Maricopa Community Colleges,” said Robinson.
Robinson’s administration also took the initiative to return the vice president for information technology role in response to a demand which arose during the previous interim presidency.
“Given the mission critical importance of IT, the ever-changing landscape of technology in higher education, the size of MCC’s campuses, and the number of IT employees, a vice president of information technology will best serve MCC,” said Robinson.
Alvin Bridges, current associate vice president for college technology services, has been invited by Robinson to apply for the incoming vice president for information technology role.
These individualized vice president positions allow for direct communication with Robinson as she works to plan, direct, and provide oversight for specific areas of college affairs through the use of the newly created roles.
Robinson’s administration is currently working with MCC’s human resources department to develop job postings for the newly created positions and expect to have interviews fulfilled by the summer.
This story was edited on 4/3/2023 to correct errors made at the time of publication.
The search for an executive vice president for student and academic affairs has not gone on for two years as previously stated.
The former structure was not created by former interim president Lori Berquam. It was created by former MCC President Rich Haney.
The senior associate vice president roles will not be replaced, but rather reevaluated according to MCCCD policy.
The “associate” titles in paragraphs four, five, and six have been corrected to “senior associate” to accurately reflect the titles.
The adjustments to the administrative structure are not to revert to previous MCC strategy, but rather to align with structures across the district.
