Curtis L. Ivery, chancellor of the Wayne County Community College District in Detroit, has been named CEO of the Year by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC).
The inaugural national award from the AACC is in recognition of Ivery’s “outstanding accomplishments and professional contributions to the community college field, and for modeling innovative and successful ways colleges can create meaningful impacts in individuals’ lives.”
During Ivery’s tenure, WCCCD grew from 7,000 students to a multi-campus cornerstone institution of higher education that serves more than 70,000 students annually over a six-campus district that covers more than 500 square miles.
As the largest urban community college district in the state of Michigan, Ivery has transformed WCCCD into an institution that provides more than 120 career and academic programs to its students and is a regional leader in workforce development and healthcare fields.
“I am honored to be the first recipient of the CEO of the Year Award,” says Ivery. “The partnership with the AACC continues to play a major role in our successful transformation and having an impact on students’ lives at WCCCD.”
Ivery has assembled academic, community, business, and government leaders across a series of roundtables and conferences to develop strategies to expand educational equity and economic mobility in our region, and throughout the nation.
He was appointed by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to serve on the Michigan Coronavirus Taskforce to address racial disparities and served on the committee to advise the governor on approaches and strategies towards immediate action to dissolve historical disparities that characterize systemic inequities.
