Forty years after his election to the first Board of
Trustees at Kansas City Kansas Community College and his
wife Carole at his side, Nolen Ellison was sworn in
Tuesday for his second term as a trustee by board
attorney Deryl Wynn.
(KCKCC Photo by Alan Hoskins) |
For the second time in a 45-year career in education, Nolen
Ellison, Ph.D., was sworn in as a member of the Board of
Trustees at Kansas City Kansas Community College Tuesday.
Ellison was elected to the College's first board in 1967, at 26
years of age one of the youngest in the nation and the first
African American to serve on the board. The first trustee to
serve separate terms, his second term started Tuesday after
being appointed to fill the unexpired term of the late Nancy
Carry.
In assuming his new position, Ellison pledged his support of
elected board officers and the elected leadership; to build on
the existing College plans as currently constituted while
fulfilling the expectations and hopes for the College as
expressed by local citizens; and to work with board leadership
and the executive team to establish and operationalize a Board
Ad-Hoc Planning and Evaluation Committee through June of 2008.
Ellison also announced three priorities of focus through his
term that runs through 2008-09;
-
Focus
on the welfare of KCKCC students and taxpayers by working to
keep tuition low, planning for education-service growth and
expanding college programs throughout Wyandotte and
Leavenworth counties.
-
Focus
on trustee accountability to the public by instilling public
confidence with the scope of the Kansas Open Meeting Law,
the KCKCC/Association of Community College Trustees Handbook
and the Board of Trustees Code of Ethics.
-
Focus
on institutional quality and teaching consistent with the
expectations of the North Central Association-KCKCC
Strategic Plan and Institutional Effectiveness Monitoring by
providing leadership at the Board level in addressing
Trustee policies that support enhancement of institutional
and education quality, implementation of effective
teaching-learning strategies, expansion of career programs
and expansion of workforce development.
Ellison brings a wealth of educational experience to the board.
The president of Seattle Central Community College from 1972-74,
he served as president and CEO of the Cuyahoga Community College
District in Cleveland, Ohio, from 1974-91. In 2004, Cuyahoga
opened a new high-tech building in Ellison's name.
Ellison has also served in administrative and teaching positions
at Michigan State University and mostly recently UMKC. Since
retiring from UMKC, Ellison has worked with KCKCC, holding
workshops with board members on trustee development and with
administrators on strategic planning.
Born and raised in Wyandotte County, Ellison was an outstanding
athlete at Wyandotte High School where he helped Walt Shublom-coached
teams win three consecutive state basketball champions from
1957-59. Heavily recruited out of high school, he played three
years at the University of Kansas where he was the highest
scoring guard in KU history and team captain his senior year.
Ellison taught World History and American Government and coached
boys basketball at Sumner High School from 1963-67, when he was
elected to the Board of Trustees. He left teaching to join the
KCK Model Cities Program planning in 1967 only to be recruited
by Michigan State University to pursue a Ph.D. in Urban Planning
and Institutional Management. While at Michigan State, he served
as Associate Director for the Center for Urban Affairs and as
Executive Assistant to the President. |