Dr. Nicola Blake Named ACE Scholar at Westchester Community College

From Westchester Community College:

Dr. Nicola Blake has been named as the 2016-2017 American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow at Westchester Community College. For the full academic year, she will be on the college campus. The college’s participation in the ACE Fellows program is noteworthy because out of 29 fellows this year, only two are placed at community colleges.

This program provides an opportunity for an up-and-coming senior leader to gain executive-level mentoring and insight through on-the-job experience and professional development. A Faculty Advisor to the Provost, Liberal Arts and Sciences Program Coordinator, and Assistant Professor in English, at CUNY’s Guttman Community College, Blake has eighteen years of administrative, teaching, and research experience in university and community college settings. At Westchester Community College, she will participate in and coordinate a range of special projects that will give her broader exposure to the transformative work that the college does for students. The college will provide a robust learning environment for Blake, who has excelled at another college with extraordinary focus on clearly defined educational pathways.

“Selection as a host institution is a sign of the outstanding reputation and commitment to excellence at Westchester Community College, says Sherri Lind Hughes, director of the ACE Fellows Program and a former Fellow. “An ACE Fellow chooses an institution not only for its rigorous academic environment, high quality efforts to educate students, but also its strong desire to invest in the future of higher education senior leadership as well,” she adds.

Established in 1965, the ACE Fellows Program is designed to strengthen institutional and leadership capacity in American higher education by identifying and preparing faculty and staff for senior positions in college and university administration. In all, 29 Fellows, nominated by the senior administration of their institutions, will comprise this year’s cohort at colleges and universities across the nation.

Nearly 2,000 higher education leaders have participated in the ACE Fellows Program over the past five decades, with more than 80 percent of Fellows having served as senior leaders of colleges and universities. For more information on ACE see details at www.acenet.edu.

Photo courtesy of Westchester Community College.