MCC President to Receive NEBHE’s 2008 Connecticut State Merit Award
Jonathan M. Daube, center, with the CT Delegation
of New England Board of Higher Education
BOSTON – The New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) announced that Manchester Community College President Jonathan M. Daube will be honored at NEBHE’s 2008 New England Higher Education Excellence Awards.
Daube will receive the Connecticut State Merit Award for his work as president of Manchester Community College, located in central Connecticut.
NEBHE Interim President and CEO Michael K. Thomas said about the honoree: “Dr. Daube has been at the helm of Manchester Community College since 1987. He is one of New England’s most respected leaders in public higher education and has been a lifelong champion for access and opportunity. He has had an inestimable impact on MCC during his time there and leaves it a vital, dynamic institution.”
Each year, NEBHE presents Regional Excellence Awards to individuals and organizations that have shown exceptional leadership on behalf of higher education and the advancement of educational opportunity. The organization also presents State Merit Awards to honor the innovative work of organizations, institutions or individuals in each New England state.
Originally from Great Britain, Daube moved to the United States in 1963. He became president of Manchester Community College in central Connecticut in 1987.
MCC is the largest of the Connecticut’s community colleges, serving more than 15,000 students a year, with nearly 6,000 undergraduate students in credit programs and more than 7,000 credit-free and 2,000 credit extension students each year.
The college is also home to Great Path Academy, a middle college high school in which students work simultaneously on high school diplomas and post-secondary degrees or certificates. Construction began during the 2007-2008 academic year on a new wing for Great Path, which is expected to eventually increase enrollment to about 300 students.
According to Marc S. Herzog, chancellor of the Connecticut Community College System, “Dr. Daube’s ability to reach out beyond campus boundaries to encourage inclusion and collaboration has extended the college’s influence significantly for the benefit of students, the college, and the communities in the region. The college’s growth and its development of new and innovative programs have all made it a cultural and educational hub. That could only have happened with astute leadership and extraordinary vision. Dr. Daube’s record of achievement, advancement, and accomplishment are rarely matched in higher education.”
“Given all of his accomplishments, it is eminently clear why Jonathan Daube was chosen to receive the Connecticut State Merit Award,” added Robert E. Miller, president emeritus, Quinebaug Valley (CT) Community College, and interim chair of the Connecticut Delegation of NEBHE.
Daube has been a member of the board of directors of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, has served as a visiting member of the editorial board of the Hartford Courant and was recently elected president of the board of directors of the University of Aberdeen (Scotland) Development Trust.
Previously, he was president of Berkshire Community College in Pittsfield, Mass.; professor and director of Union Graduate School in Yellow Springs, Ohio; superintendent of schools in Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.; and an English teacher, both in Newton, Mass. and in England.
In May 2007, Daube announced his intention to retire after the 2007-2008 academic year.
NEBHE will present the awards at its annual gala, to be held on Friday, March 14th, at Boston’s Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel.
Additional information about NEBHE’s New England Higher Education Excellence Awards is available online at http://www.nebhe.org/about-nebhe/news-releases/excellence-awards-2008/.
