DR. SHIRLEY ROBINSON PIPPINS
President, Suffolk County Community College Initiates A Dynamic Plan of Action for Success

By Sally Gilhooley

Dr. Shirley Robinson Pippins, the first woman and first African-American to lead Suffolk County Community College (SCCC), was formally installed as its fifth president in October 2004. The event heralded an era of reevaluation and growth for the school which was founded in 1959. Her inaugural address entitled, "Transforming Lives, Transforming Families, Transforming Communities," emphasized how community colleges provide life-changing opportunities for committed students when it has established high standards and implemented the necessary supports to help them meet institutional expectations.

Dr. Pippins hit-the-ground-running approach has invigorated the College with new energy, fresh ideas and an expanded presence on eastern Long Island. Her efforts on behalf of SCCC earned her selection by Long Island Business News as one of the Top 100 Most Influential Long Islanders in December 2005, and as one of LI's Top 50 Most Influential Women in March of this year.

In an interview with Networking¨ magazine, Dr. Pippins, who served as president of Thomas Nelson Community College in Hampton, Virginia, for eight years before coming to Suffolk said, "When I came, I started having conversations with faculty, staff and members of the community to get a feeling for the goals of SCCC. One of the pleasures for me when I came here was the quality of the programs and the people. We built on those strengths and shared that story with the community at all levels."

Reviewing Changing Needs of SCCC

Under the leadership of Dr. Pippins who earned her doctorate at Teachers College, Columbia University and has completed studies at Harvard's Institute for Educational Management, Suffolk began re-examining its mission and vision. The result was the development of a "visioning pyramid" which serves as an overarching plan of action for the direction of the school.

With over 25 years of leadership, management, consulting, teaching and faculty development experience, Dr. Pippins has worked in both the public and private sectors. She received her bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and holds masters' degrees from the University of Illinois and Manhattanville College in New York. Her transformational style for the largest multi-campus community college in the State University of New York (SUNY) system - over 22,000 students - spearheads what she calls "our commitment to excellence in a broad range of goals."

"From enhancing the probability of success for students who need extra support, to maintaining an academically challenging environment for the 400 students in the Honors program, to working closely with the area businesses to meet their current and projected workforce demands, our operating goal is to ensure we are meeting the full spectrum of student and community needs."

A Plan of Action

Dr. Pippins' call to action resonated with the community and partnerships were formed. Specifically to address the region's nursing shortage, in conjunction with state and local support and bonding with businesses and hospitals, a facility in Sayville has been set up including laboratories for nursing, medical assisting, anatomy and physiology classes and courses in the allied health professions.

"This program, because it is in Sayville, also supports downtown revitalization, economic development and provides great career opportunities for those entered into the program," said Dr. Pippins.

"Our research indicates 94% of our graduates stay on Long Island at least initially. A lot of young people want to stay but can't because of the cost of living but the nursing area in particular offers an instant entry into middle class life. For a lot of working class and struggling young people and families, it is an excellent mobility tool."

The College also has completed planning for a Culinary Arts and Hospitality Educational Center in Riverhead intended to increase instructional space and enrollment as well as address regional workforce needs. The Center includes culinary laboratories, a demonstration theatre/lecture hall, classrooms and an on-site retail bakery and café operated by students. The Center is under construction and SCCC expects it to be fully operational within a year.

Suffolk's Honors program offers interdisciplinary learning opportunities for academically talented and highly motivated students. It is grounded in the traditions of liberal arts and stresses the connections among various disciplines and the tools of artistic and intellectual creativity. In addition, because of the increasing number of internationally and nationally known high technology firms that call Suffolk County home, SCCC has established academic partnerships with a number of corporations providing educational opportunities for students and a qualified workforce for businesses. Among the companies included are: Cisco Systems, General Motors, AC/Delco, Firestone and Nissan.

Issues Facing Higher Education

Of the major problems of higher education, Dr. Pippins noted, "Today, the challenge the United States faces is the number of citizens who aren't educated at the level that we need them to be for us to remain competitive as a country and we need to do something about that."

"We have students who are not succeeding in elementary school, not succeeding in high school and coming to college under-prepared, regardless of the level of the institution. When you consider the concept of the world being flat, the world we will increasingly compete in, the fact that we have a number of citizens who are under-prepared is a real disadvantage to our country."

To address this concern, SCCC, in addition to one-to-one assistance, instruction in basic study skills and tutorial services, offers several special academic support programs to address learning needs: The College Success Program, a skills-development and mentoring program; The Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) for students who may need encouragement to continue on to graduation and a Developmental Studies Program providing assistance to help students prepare for college work.

The Expanding Role of Community Colleges

"Historically, community colleges have worked with students who have challenges," observes Dr. Pippins. "To my mind, we're getting better at that. We're partnering with high schools to address some of these issues so that fewer students come to us with developmental needs."

"The real success of community colleges, from my perspective, is when you see a student coming to us with significant challenges and that student turns his or her life around and becomes a success."

Dr. Pippins recalls, "One of my favorite stories is about a student who graduated this past year whose parents came to me and said, "Thank you for saving my son.' I had watched him blossom over the course of two years and those victories are the things that make you smile and come in on the tough days."

She believes community colleges will increasingly become the institutions of choice for informed parents and families who are making pragmatic decisions about how to get a first-class education whether coming for transfer or to exit after two years into a career field.

"By spending the first two years (of college) at Suffolk, you'll receive a quality education and save thousands of dollars," adds Dr. Pippins. "We provide a practical choice for financially savvy students."

During 1991, she served in South Africa through the United States Information Agency as an academic specialist assisting educators in exploring alternative models of higher education including community colleges.

Of her African experience Dr. Pippins said, "It made me very aware of the opportunities we have in this country and how often we take them for granted. (Africa) really gave meaning to the whole idea of oppression and how it affects people regardless of where they are. I saw the effect of hopelessness in terms of people's willingness to invest in trying to learn. It was very visible in South Africa and less visible here."

Opportunities For Women In Education

In addressing the issue of leadership opportunities for women in general and women of color in particular, Dr. Pippins said, "I encourage women of color to pursue leadership positions in higher education. More and more opportunities exist and it is important for women of color to pursue them - to a large extent to be role models for students of color and also to make value-driven decisions that are going to be necessary to move students of color forward."

She added, "I've spent a lot of time talking to women interested in positions in higher education. These jobs are very demanding and because women tend to make value-driven decisions we (women) may avoid jobs that seem very demanding. I try to talk to women about how to balance life so they can have families and also be successful in demanding careers."

"For me, the rewards really come from making a difference in the lives of individuals, both students and people who teach and work at Suffolk. I have two daughters and one is a college senior. We're having conversations constantly about what she should do with her life. I tell her the important thing is to feel you have a sense of mission - that you are making a difference by what you do."

The Future of Suffolk County Community College

Of the future of Suffolk Dr. Pippins says, "I see SCCC being recognized nationally and internationally as a center of innovation. I see our Honors program growing with more and more citizens in our county seeing us as a great place to start. I see resources coming in from state, federal and community organizations to support our efforts either through partnerships or through major gift campaigns - which is something we're really thinking about for the future."

"I see the facilities more state-of-the-art. We're making the learning environment a real priority. We'll also probably have more success with our students and more student-centered activities. I'm excited about having the opportunity to lead Suffolk forward and very pleased that more and more people recognize the value of the College and see us as an investment. I believe that will become more and more true as more and more students and families come to Suffolk to realize their dreams."

Long time activist for educational reform, Dr. Pippins has participated in the Joint Civilian Orientation Conference and served on the American Association of Community Colleges' Commission on International/Intercultural Services and the Guidance and Admission Assembly Council of the national organization, the College Board.

Dr. Pippins is a member of the executive committee of the board of the American Association of Community Colleges and served as the immediate past chair of its audit and finance committee. She is past chair of the American Council on Education's Commission on Women in Higher Education and a member of the Board of Trustees of Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, New York.

As part of a keynote panel at a Richmond, Virginia networking conference in June, 2006, Dr. Pippins was billed as "a much admired leader [whose] warmth and wisdom have endeared her to those who have had a chance to hear her speak" A resident of Calverton, Dr. Pippins is the mother of three grown children.