Board will focus on free community college through the College Promise Campaign

WARREN, MI – President Barack Obama will announce today that Ivy Tech Community College President Thomas J. Snyder has been selected to serve on the College Promise Advisory Board, which will bring together luminaries and leaders to share best practices and ideas for models to make community college free and to serve as a way for those leaders to recruit more of their peers to join the cause.

President Obama is announcing the creation of the board today while delivering remarks at Macomb Community College in Warren, Mich., where he will speak about America’s College Promise and the campaign throughout the country to deliver two years of free community college to hard working students.  He will also announce the launch of Heads Up America, an independent campaign to raise awareness about the importance of community college.

The independent College Promise Advisory Board will be chaired by Dr. Jill Biden, Vice-Chaired by former Wyoming Governor Jim Geringer and directed by former Under Secretary of Education, Martha Kanter.  A full list of the advisory board members can be found below.

Snyder is a natural selection for the advisory board.  Both Snyder and Ivy Tech Community College were recognized by Obama when he visited Ivy Tech earlier this year to promote the America’s College Promise initiative.  During his remarks at Ivy Tech, Obama stated that Ivy Tech is “one of the best (schools) in the country, not just in the state of Indiana.”  His town hall meeting with leaders and students detailed the value and necessity for higher education and that community colleges serve as the best way to provide that pathway to success.

Snyder, who was featured in The Chronicle of Higher Education as one of seven community college President’s making a difference early in his tenure, has helped shape the higher education landscape on a national scale.  Snyder was selected by President Obama as the lone community college president to serve on a Roundtable on Affordability and Productivity in Higher Education at the White House in December 2011.

In October 2010, Snyder and Ivy Tech student Michael Rice were invited by Dr. Jill Biden to participate in the first-ever White House Summit on Community Colleges.  Ivy Tech subsequently hosted the largest regional U.S. Department of Education summit on community colleges in March 2011 as a follow up to the White House Summit on Community Colleges.  More than 200 participants from 13 states joined in the historic sessions which focused on “Partnerships between Community Colleges and Employers” and engaged business leaders throughout the Midwest in addition to participants from higher education and government.

Ivy Tech Community College has also pledged to be an official Heads Up partner for the College Promise Campaign.  The Heads Up America campaign will work to create a movement to support community colleges around the country. It will give students, teachers, counselors, administrators, alumni, business and other leaders a role in spreading the word about the value and impact that universal access to community college will have on our future.

In an effort to call on everyone to join the movement to make two years of community college free for responsible students, Ivy Tech today is hosting 14 sessions to allow students the opportunity to watch the President’s remarks live, sign the petition to support two years of free community college, and to take part in an active discussion regarding the concept of free community college.

College Promise Advisory Board Members:

• Ellen Alberding, President & Board Member, The Joyce Foundation
• Matthew C. Boulay, Program Officer for Veterans Program, Kisco Foundation
• Randy Boyd, Commissioner, Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development
• J. Noah Brown, President & CEO, Association of Community College Trustees
• Walter G. Bumphus, President & CEO, American Association of Community Colleges
• Christopher Cabaldon, Mayor, West Sacramento
• Phil Clegg, Executive Director, American Student Association of Community Colleges
• Alexandra Flores-Quilty, President, United States Student Association
• Brian A. Gallagher, President & CEO, United Way Worldwide
• Lily Eskelsen García, President, National Education Association
• Richard D. George, President & CEO, Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation
• Mark Haas, Oregon State Senator, District 14
• Anne Johnson, Executive Director, Generation Progress
• Martha Kanter, College Promise Campaign
• Chauncy Lennon, Managing Director of Global Philanthropy, JPMorgan Chase
• Harold O. Levy, Executive Director, Jack Kent Cooke Foundation
• Stanley S. Litow, Vice President of Corporate Citizenship & Corporate Affairs and President, IBM Foundation
• Andrew N. Liveris, CEO, The Dow Chemical Company
• Joe May, Chancellor, Dallas County Community College District
• Gail O. Mellow, President, LaGuardia Community College
• Jen Mishory, Executive Director, Young Invincibles
• William F. L. Moses, Managing Director of Education, Kresge Foundation
• Eduardo J. Padron, President, Miami Dade Community College
• Wade Randlett, CEO, Transportation Fuels Division of General Biofuels
• Lauren A. Segal, President & CEO, Scholarship America
• Randy Smith, President, Rural Community College Alliance
• Thomas J. Snyder, President, Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana
• LaVerne Evans Srinivasan, Vice President, Education Programs, Carnegie Corporation of New York
• Karen A. Stout, President & CEO, Achieving the Dream
• Scott J. Svonkin, President of the Board of Trustees, Los Angeles Community College District
• William H. Swanson, Chairman & CEO (retired), Raytheon Company
• Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers

Ivy Tech Community College is the state’s largest public postsecondary institution and the nation’s largest singly accredited statewide community college system.  Ivy Tech has campuses throughout Indiana. It serves as the state’s engine of workforce development, offering affordable degree programs and training that are aligned with the needs of its community along with courses and programs that transfer to other colleges and universities in Indiana. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and a member of the North Central Association.