Dr. Melinda Mohler, associate professor of History, and Crystal Jones, assistant dean of Business and Applied Technologies, were selected by the Ohio Association of Community Colleges (OACC) to represent Clark State Community College in its new Leadership Academy. This Academy is modeled on the Aspen Institute’s Leadership program.
“Dr. Mohler and Assistant Dean Jones are exemplary emerging leaders at Clark State who have championed student success,” said Dr. Jo Alice Blondin, president of Clark State. “They were nominated because of their student-centered approach and focus on quality teaching and learning.”
The Ohio Association of Community Colleges’ Success Center is spearheading this leadership development cohort program for faculty, staff and administrators with clear leadership potential and interest in advancing within the college and the field. Clark State was able to nominate two individuals to participate in the first cohort of the OACC Leadership Academy.
Jones has been with Clark State for 11 years. She started as an instructor in August 2008, promoted to an assistant professor in 2011 and then promoted to associate professor in 2016. She has served in her current role since June of 2018.
“Being selected for the OACC Leadership Academy is an immense honor,” said Jones. “This opportunity means I can continue to advocate for our students and community colleges, while networking with other professionals throughout Ohio. I hope that this opportunity not only helps me reach my goals, but that I can inspire others.”
Mohler has been with Clark State for six years. She previously served as a visiting assistant professor at Marietta College in Marietta, Ohio, and a lecturer at West Virginia University in Morgantown.
Mohler said she is honored to be selected as a member of the Leadership Academy. “This year's cohort will undertake team innovation projects designed to foster student success via Guided Pathways,” she said. “I am excited to work collaboratively with other faculty from around the state on behalf of our students.”
Mohler said she enjoys working at Clark State because the College does everything possible to remove barriers in order to allow students to achieve and succeed. “My goal for this year is to glean everything I can from the program and use it to support student achievement at Clark State,” she said.
The focus of the Academy is to develop college leadership capacity to advance a student success agenda. The Academy will align closely with the work of the OACC Success Center and the individual colleges to implement guided pathways reforms. There will be a focus on building the generic leadership capacities of the participants, and these skills will be explored in the context of the guided pathways framework.