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April 17, 2017

New era at MWCC

James Vander Hooven took over as Mount Wachusett Community College president in March after serving as vice president for enrollment management at Landmark College.

When the economy takes a hit, like it did in 2008, community college enrollment goes up. Conversely, when the economy improves, people return to the workforce and enrollment at community colleges drops.

While that may be true for traditional associate's degree programs, James Vander Hooven said community colleges have the opportunity to be a resource for businesses in both good and bad times. “If we're actually doing our jobs and meeting the needs of the community, then there's that opportunity to be the source for those businesses and those leaders to utilize,” Vander Hooven said.

Vander Hooven, 45, took over as president of Mount Wachusett Community College in Gardner last month, the third person in the school's 54-year history to hold the job. He succeeded Daniel Asquino, who was president of the college for nearly 30 years. Vander Hooven said he expects to spend his first few months on the job assessing where the college is now and where he wants it to be – including specifics on its relationship to the business community.

“Continuing to build and establish partnerships and relationships with business and industry is a really big emphasis point for me,” he said.

Creating opportunities

For more than 20 years, Vander Hooven has built his career around increasing opportunities for students of all ages and backgrounds. He got his start on that path after a few years of secondary teaching and administrative work, when he found himself as the youngest person in the room in a nontraditional classroom. Since then, he has dedicated his career to finding innovations to improve lives of a diverse set of students and families.

“When you see what a lot of our students need to overcome or the obstacles they have in front of them on the way to achieving their goals, and then when you see them actually succeed and get their diploma, or transfer out for a bachelor's degree, or they get the job because they just got the certificate they needed, there isn't anything at all like that,” he said.

Vander Hooven came to Mount Wachusett from Landmark College in Putney, Vt., where he was vice president for enrollment management. Before that, he was president of Tohono O'odham Community College on the Tohono O'odham reservation in Arizona, where he oversaw a $9-million construction of a new main campus, represented the Tribal Colleges on Capitol Hill in annual presentations, and strengthened STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) programs on campus.

Helping the North Central economy

Mount Wachusett is already an asset to economic development in North Worcester County.

The college works closely with industry to figure out what programs it needs to add in order to meet the area's workforce needs.

In the past year, the college added a program in health information management and a certificate in substance abuse counseling.

One particular industry focus is manufacturing. The college's campus in Devens has more than $1.2 million in advanced manufacturing equipment, where training is able to be translated directly into business needs. Companies like drugmaker Bristol-Meyers Squibb in Devens send their employees to job training programs created specifically for them.

The North Central region of Massachusetts has a high concentration of manufacturers, said Roy Nascimento, president and CEO of the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce. Nascimento said the Devens manufacturing center in particular has helped local manufacturing companies develop curricula to meet their needs.

The college “really has an impact throughout the region, supporting economic development and workforce development,” Nascimento said. “It is a well-respected institution that is deeply involved and engaged in the business community.”

Such is the function of a community college, said Ray Martino, president of the Simonds Group in Fitchburg and chair of the college's foundation's board of directors.

“Most graduates are going to work in the region. Those programs should be tied to the community,” said Martino.

Developing a long-range vision

The college's current strategic plan is going to expire soon, which makes things a bit easier for Vander Hooven. He said he can extend it for awhile, for about eight to 10 months, until he is able to develop a new long-term plan.

He said he wanted to work at the Mount because he thinks it's a place where students are engaged.

“Our students are so busy, and have very complicated lives in many respects. Yet for some students I've met this week, it seems almost more important to them that they're improving their communities rather than just themselves,” he said.

Besides his qualifications on paper, Martino said one of the big reasons Vander Hooven was chosen was because he's a great listener.

“He is well positioned to spend time understanding what the needs are out there, and to apply that knowledge and those listening skills to his work going forward,” he said.

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