DCCCD names new president of El Centro College

by PegNews wire

Members of the Dallas County Community College District board of trustees approved the appointment of Dr. Paul McCarthy as the new president of El Centro College during their regular monthly meeting on Tues., Dec. 4. McCarthy, who currently serves as president of Prairie State College in Chicago Heights, Ill., is a former ECC vice president of academic affairs and student development. He left El Centro in 2000 to serve as CEO of the Illinois institution, which serves more than 5,000 students. McCarthy will begin his service as president of El Centro on Feb. 1, 2008.

“We are pleased to welcome Dr. Paul McCarthy back to our fold. He will be an important part of the El Centro and DCCCD family as the college looks ahead to increased growth and additional locations in our community,” said Dr. Wright Lassiter, DCCCD’s chancellor.

McCarthy, who attended the trustees’ meeting on Tuesday with his wife, Sande, said he looks forward to returning to Dallas and to El Centro College. “El Centro College is growing and seeking to increase its outreach into the community,” he said. “I look forward to working with students, faculty, staff, administrators and friends of El Centro as we move forward.”

McCarthy earned bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in English from Aquinas College and Michigan State University. He has served as a faculty member at Lansing Community College, the University of Hawaii at Hilo (where he was elected president of the Faculty Senate), Shoreline Community College and North Seattle Community College (where he previously served as dean of humanities and international programs).

While he was dean at North Seattle Community College, McCarthy was named by the National Chair Academy as Outstanding Dean in the Western Region (1995) and also won the Seattle Community Colleges Lifelong Learning Award. He is a 1988 graduate of the League for Innovation in the Community College Executive Leadership Workshop. McCarthy is married and has three children. He and his wife enjoy traveling, and both are U.S. Tennis Association-rated players.

Source: DCCCD