Community College of Philadelphia interim president is selected for permanent role

Alycia Marshall, who has been serving as interim president of Community College of Philadelphia since April, was unanimously endorsed for the permanent role Tuesday.

The board of trustees, at an 8 a.m. meeting, approved making an offer of employment to Marshall, who had served as provost and vice president for academic and student success at CCP for nearly three years before stepping into the interim role.

Marshall was among four finalists for the job.

“Congratulations,” Board Chair Harold T. Epps said to Marshall during the Zoom meeting, which lasted about 10 minutes. “You have earned it through a very tough and challenging process. …We look forward to working with you.”

» READ MORE: Community College of Philadelphia is poised to select its next president Tuesday

Epps cited Marshall’s “stellar work” through the interim period as a factor in the board’s decision and said she had “the full confidence” of the board.

“I’m a little bit emotional,” Marshall said at the meeting. “I’m very excited. I’m honored. I’m deeply humbled, pleased, ecstatic, and looking forward to the road ahead and the journey ahead.

“I am fully committed to this institution, to our students, most importantly, and to the college community.”

Epps said contract negotiations with Marshall would begin immediately to lead the college, which had an enrollment of 12,400 credit students and 1,381 noncredit students last spring. No terms or salary of her employment were released.

Marshall will follow former CCP President Donald Guy Generals, who led the college for 11 years and was forced out of the job in April and placed on paid administrative leave through the end of his contract.

Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker congratulated Marshall in a statement.

“The Parker administration supports CCP, Dr. Marshall, and the board in its mission,” she said.

Maria Baez, student government president, was on the search committee and said while she liked all four candidates, Marshall was her first choice.

“As a student, I see her passion for the students,” Baez said. “I see how connected she is with the students. Her heart is for the students.”

Junior Brainard, co-president of the faculty and staff union, said: “As a union, we are looking forward to Dr. Marshall finally making good on the agreement we signed back in March,” referring to a contract agreement. “That includes SEPTA passes for all students, smaller class sizes, and improvements to health, safety, and working conditions that will be figured out through various committees.”

During a finalist forum, Marshall addressed free SEPTA passes for students. While the college couldn’t offer the benefit to all students — it would cost about $2 million — a pilot will begin in the spring at the college’s West Philadelphia site, she said.

Brainard said the college has to do better. The pilot only serves half the students at the West Philadelphia site and just 3% of the student body, he said.

Marshall said in an interview Tuesday afternoon that the goal is to find alternative funding sources and expand the program to the entire college.

She said among her priorities will be increasing and strengthening transfer partnerships, with the recently announced program with Cheyney University, an historically Black college in Delaware and Chester counties, as a model.

“Many of our students have transportation issues and perhaps reasonably cannot drive the 25 miles to Cheyney University,” she said. “So Cheyney at CCP is going to provide opportunities to complete a bachelor’s while staying on our campus. It’s symbolic of where I would like to work together with faculty, staff and the administrators and the board ... on really strengthening those pathways.”

She cited workforce development and strengthening partnerships with K-12 schools, too, including expanding dual enrollment opportunities and reaching into areas of the city that the college currently is not penetrating enough.

When Marshall was named as interim, Epps cited her “academic and organizational leadership, along with her extensive expertise in STEM, her focus on mentoring and serving underrepresented student populations.”

» READ MORE: Community College of Philadelphia announces four finalists for president, including its current interim leader

Marshall, 51, received her bachelor’s in mathematics from the University of Maryland Baltimore County, her master’s in teaching from Bowie State University, and her doctorate in mathematics education from the University of Maryland.

A native of Maryland, she started her career as an adjunct professor at Anne Arundel Community College in Maryland, near Annapolis, and later became a full tenured professor and chair of the mathematics department.

» READ MORE: CCP board appoints provost as interim leader after ousting president

She was promoted to associate vice president there and founded the African American Leadership Institute and spent a total of nearly 23 years at the Maryland community college. She’s also a rising presidents fellow with the Aspen Foundation, a nonprofit aimed at creating thought leaders in their fields to address critical challenges.

» READ MORE: CCP board removes president, voting not to renew contract and placing him on immediate paid leave

At a campus interview session for the job, Marshall said she would lead both internally and externally, focusing on faculty and staff satisfaction as well as building relationships with funders and donors.

She said she has already met more than 20 City Council members and state legislators.

Marshall acknowledged that an employee satisfaction survey she commissioned when she became interim president showed low morale and promised to address it “through ensuring transparency and frequent communication.” The results of that survey haven’t been publicly released.

Marshall said that over the last six months, she learned to be comfortable not knowing what will happen next. After a board meeting earlier this month, a consultant who is the liaison to the presidential search committee said on a still-active microphone that Marshall had not been well-received on campus.

Marshall said at the interview session that she did not agree with that and that she has developed relationships with people across the college.

“If you have worked directly with me, you will know I am here for the students and I am here to support faculty and staff,” she said.

Marshall, who maintains a residence in Maryland, said she would move to the city full time if selected for the job.

The other finalists for the job were: Jesse Pisors, former president of Pasco-Hernando State College in Florida; Jermaine Wright, vice president for student affairs at City University of New York-Lehman College; and Lisa Cooper Wilkins, vice chancellor of student affairs at City College of San Francisco.