WELLESLEY HILLS (March 31, 2016) – The Massachusetts Bay Community College Board of Trustees is pleased to announce its unanimous recommendation to the Board of Higher Education that Dr. David Podell be appointed MassBay’s next president. This recommendation must be approved by the Board of Higher Education and is subject to an agreement on a contract.
Dr. Podell, who currently serves as the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty at Marymount Manhattan College in New York, was selected from a rich pool of candidates, following an extensive nationwide search led by a diverse group of Trustees, faculty, staff, students and alumni on the College’s Presidential Search Committee.
In making the announcement to the Committee, the Board of Trustees noted “Dr. Podell’s deep and abiding commitment to public higher education, his professed devotion to teaching faculty as well as his proven experience as an effective administrator, his comfort in working with diverse populations, and most of all, his ability to listen has made him the right person at this juncture to provide the thoughtful, steady, and visionary leadership that the College needs as it heads into its next chapter.”
“Dr. Podell is a highly accomplished academic and educator who has demonstrated a commitment to public higher education over a career spanning 30 years,” said MassBay Chairman of the Board of Trustees Thomas E. Peisch. “He has held important administrative positions at two successful colleges and brings a wealth of experience to MassBay. He understands the needs of community college students and is ideally-suited to take the College to the next level. The Board of Trustees was unanimous in deciding that Dr. Podell was the strongest candidate of an outstanding group of applicants, and the Board looks forward to welcoming him to campus as the College’s next president.”
Dr. David Podell has served in his current role at Marymount Manhattan College since 2008. He previously served as the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost of the College of Staten Island, City University of New York in Staten Island, N.Y. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Pennsylvania, a Masters of Education in Child Development from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Psychology from New York University.
Pending formal appointment, Dr. Podell would become the College’s sixth president, following Yves Salomon-Fernandez, who has been serving as MassBay’s interim president this past academic year. The College’s fifth president Dr. John O’Donnell retired in August 2015.
MassBay Community College was recently ranked by the Brookings Institution as one of the top schools for value added and earned salaries in the workforce. Ranked #1 for 2-year colleges in Massachusetts, #2 in New England and ranked #16 nationally. The College’s facilities in Wellesley Hills, Framingham and Ashland house day, evening and weekend classes that meet the needs of degree-seeking students and career minded life-long learners. Online options provide convenience and allow faculty to facilitate the learning process. Since its founding in 1961, MassBay has been accredited by several governing bodies and strives to meet the needs of the diverse local communities it serves.