Dr. Jermaine Williams, incoming president of Montgomery College, a community college in Maryland
“I am overjoyed and honored to have been selected by the Board of Trustees to serve as the next president of MC,” said Williams in an interview with Diverse. “The College is harnessing innovation and transformation in ways that are benefitting society. This is a huge opportunity to build off of MC’s successes to help create change for education, the economy, and racial and social justice.”
Since 2019, Williams has been the president of Nassau Community College (NCC), a Hispanic Serving Institution in New York, and brings almost two decades of higher education experience to his new post. He has also taught at two-year and four-year institutions for almost eight years.
As a first-generation student, Williams added that his personal experiences in higher education inform his particular commitment to supporting students from historically underrepresented backgrounds. In the pandemic, many community colleges saw sharp drops in retention, enrollment, and graduation with COVID-19 and the resulting economic crisis disproportionately hitting students from marginalized communities, the very students that community colleges tend to serve. Williams aims to stay attuned to their needs.
“One of my strengths is keeping students first,” said Williams. “That means making sure that, while we’re taking care of an entire community, which includes students, faculty, and staff, our decisions are guided by our students. Because our decisions are guided by a desire to advance society, to leverage higher education to make a more equitable place. I believe in leadership that is unabashedly and unapologetically dedicated to looking at historical and institutional inequities.”
That dedication and vision drew MC’s Board of Trustees to select Williams as the next president.
“Throughout the search process, Dr. Williams impressed both the Board of Trustees and the Presidential Search Advisory Committee with his passion for educational excellence and the shared mission of community colleges,” said Michael J. Knapp, chair of MC's Board of Trustees. “Dr. Williams’s work in higher education has focused his energies on improving access for students, as well as retention and graduation. He has paid special attention to mitigating social inequities for historically underrepresented people. His impressive track record of leadership and achievement drew the Board to him as a leader who would fit the needs of the College in this critical moment.”
