Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts is making a leadership change amid its second presidential search in less than a year.The board of trustees Thursday unanimously approved appointing trustee James Clemmer as the college’s interim president. The move came after the current interim president Cynthia Brown announced she is seeking the full-time presidency. In order to be considered, Brown has to resign her post. Clemmer graduated from MCLA in 1986 and has been a trustee since 2007. He says he doesn’t intend to set the strategy or vision for the college, leaving that to the next president.
“We make sure that we don’t have a brief period where people say ‘Well, that didn’t get done because….’ I’m not going to allow that to happen,” Clemmer said. “I’m going to make sure that the person who comes in after me to take over has a great operating place and that our students are getting the benefits of great university.”
In March, presidential pick Greg Summers withdrew because of family health concerns that made it unable for him to relocate. The announcement came less than a month after the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education approved him as MCLA’s 12th president. Summers’ is currently provost and vice president of academic affairs at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Having spent the majority of her career in academia, Brown says she felt ready for the presidency after agreeing to continue serving in an interim role after Summers’ withdrawal.
“You do have switch gears and change your thinking, what your day-to-day is and your scope,” Brown said. “Some people decide that’s not for them, but I’ve thought about it a lot and I think particularly for an institution like MCLA, with the kind of mission and purpose that it has, that’s what I’m interested in.”
MCLA has a combined undergraduate and graduate enrollment of about 2,200 students with concentrations in the arts and social and physical sciences directed by an academic staff of less than 200.
Brown will return to her duties as MCLA’s vice president of academic affairs, an office she held before stepping into the temporary role after President Mary Grant left the North Adams college in January. Grant is now chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Asheville.
MCLA’s leadership transition takes effect August 14th if approved by the state’s commissioner of higher education. Clemmer, who spent the past 25 years in business administrative and management roles, says he brings a leadership style not typical of academia.
“Some of the skills and knowledge I’ve gained will be immediately transferrable here and helpful, and some won’t be because I don’t know some of the context and how decisions are made here and some of the information I need to gather before I make good decisions,” Clemmer said. “So I’m going to rely on the staff and faculty here to help me gain that information and I’ll combine it with my knowledge of decision-making and really make the right call going forward. So I think it will be a transition time briefly for me to learn some the aspects here that are unique and for the college and staff to learn my style a bit. Once we know that we’ll move forward together.”
Since he is a former trustee, Clemmer will not be paid for his time as interim president. Instead the board voted, as requested by Clemmer, to funnel the money that would’ve gone to an interim president to the financial aid office to cut student costs. Noting the transition period has been longer than expected, trustee chair Tyler Fairbank coined the upcoming months “transition 2.0.”
“We continue to be in an amazing position of strength and a position that is going to continue to be very, very attractive to candidates for the presidency,” Fairbank said.
The college’s 14-member search committee has hired the Los Angeles-based firm Korn Ferry to conduct its presidential search. Senior Client Partner David Mead-Fox applauded the leadership continuity at the board meeting, saying it’s something applicants worry about when looking at opportunities. Archer-Martin Associates worked on the previous search which saw 59 applicants. MCLA expects to appoint its new president in early 2016.
