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The Raritan Valley Community College Board of Trustees has approved the appointment of Dr. Deborah E. Preston as Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs.

The responsibilities of the Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs include leading comprehensive program review; promoting the work of the College’s new Center for Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship; forging innovative partnerships with K-12 schools and with regional employers; developing online learning and other entrepreneurial programming; and crafting vital strategic plans. The Provost leads campus-wide transformations, supports student success, and promotes a culture of innovation and advocacy.

“We are very excited to welcome Dr. Deborah Preston to Raritan Valley Community College. With her multitude of roles in the community college sector as a campus provost, dean, award-winning faculty member and department chair, and her wealth of experience leading staff and faculty, academic and workforce development departments, academic master planning and strategic planning initiatives, she will be an invaluable addition to the College community,” said RVCC President Michael J. McDonough.

“I am absolutely thrilled to be joining the team at Raritan Valley Community College. The students at RVCC are smart, engaged, and eager to succeed, and the faculty and staff are clearly committed to student success,” said Dr. Preston. "The Mission Statement of RVCC definitely drew me in, especially the commitment to social responsibility and engaged citizenship—those values really make RVCC stand out from the crowd,” she continued.

Dr. Preston recently completed her 11th year at Montgomery College in Montgomery County, MD, where she served as dean for Visual, Performing, and Media Arts, leading a unit of over 75 faculty and staff, managing a $7.2 million budget, and overseeing arts disciplines on all campuses, including workforce development/continuing education programs and the Arts Institute. During the 2015-2016 academic year, she completed a special assignment with the Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs to develop Montgomery College’s all-new Academic Master Plan.

Previously, Dr. Preston served for 14 years as a faculty member, department chair, and campus provost at Georgia Perimeter College in Atlanta. As provost, she managed a campus of 7,000 students and a budget of $13 million. At both institutions, she has led interdisciplinary, college-wide initiatives in areas such as study abroad, student retention, faculty evaluation, and strategic planning.

As a professor at Georgia Perimeter College, Dr. Preston was a recipient of the NISOD Excellence in Teaching Award, and as chair she received the Georgia Perimeter College Campus Leadership Award. In 2004, she was selected as an American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow and was one of only two community college administrators in her class. She has completed the National Institute for Leadership Development Seminar and the Leadership Montgomery (MD) program.

Dr. Preston has served as a member and officer on several non-profit boards and currently chairs the Governance Committee for the Board of Trustees for BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown, MD. Recently, she also joined the Professional Development Committee of the International Council of Fine Arts Deans.

Dr. Preston received a B.A. in Theatre and an M.A. in English, both from Florida State University, and a Ph.D. in English from Tulane University.

Raritan Valley Community College’s main campus is located at 118 Lamington Road in Branchburg, NJ. Serving Somerset and Hunterdon County residents for close to 50 years, RVCC is an educational and cultural center that is nationally recognized for its innovative programming, service to the community and environmental leadership. The College offers more than 90 associate degrees and certificates, as well as career training, professional development, and adult and youth personal enrichment courses. The College also has a performing arts center and planetarium.

RVCC is committed to offering a quality and affordable education through effective teaching, liaisons with the community’s businesses, and state-of-the-art technology. For further information, visit www.raritanval.edu.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 17, 2017

Media contact: Donna Stolzer, 908-526-1200, ext. 8383

PR# 169