For Johnson, Taking Reins Is Chance to Give Back

Thursday, March 8, 2007

Last month, Brian K. Johnson became the seventh president of Montgomery College, replacing Charlene R. Nunley, who retired after eight years at the helm of the nearly 23,000-student college.

Johnson, 50, has more than 20 years of experience working with community colleges and was formerly chief executive of the Allegheny campus of the Community College of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh. He was selected for the job after a nationwide six-month search.

He is married and has five children -- two daughters and three sons -- ranging in age from 9 to 20.

Washington Post staff writer Lori Aratani recently sat down with Johnson for a question-and-answer session about the challenges facing him in his new job.

Q Tell me a little bit about your background growing up.

AI was born and raised in Jersey City, one of 10 children. I'm number seven of 10. I have four older brothers, and there are five boys and five girls in the family. It was a very, very nice mix, a very fun family. At the very tender age of 15, I transferred from my high school experience to attend a high school in rural New Hampshire that was a Dartmouth College-sponsored program called A Better Chance.

So when I talk about my own personal educational journey, that is a cornerstone event for me because I am someone who moved from a pretty low-performing high school to an achievement-oriented high school, and that was significant because it really placed me on the path to pursuing higher education in a way that I may not have if I had stayed in my original environment.

In education there are many places you can go -- elementary, middle, high school, university, community college. What was it that drew you to adult learners and the community college experience?

I think that the mission of community colleges, which centers on community enrichment and student development, issues like adult literacy, were again themes that had resonated in my own past -- and it was just a natural sort of fit for me to work with students who had either missed an opportunity or had a life circumstance that made the acquisition of quality education just a littler harder to reach.

So again my initial inner voice was saying I really do want to help my local community, and I do want to contribute something of significance to the lives of others. [Community colleges were] places where all of those things come together and converge, and it's one of those things I think [is] magical about the community college movement in America. It's a natural environment where people can do what Montgomery College says it lives to do, and that is: Help change people's lives.

What drew you to Montgomery College?

I'll tell you, this is an exceptional institution. There's something like 1,200 community colleges in the country, and this one is far and above right at the top of the list. . . . This is an institution that has award-winning faculty. It is a college that is supported in an unparalleled way when you look at the financial involvement of the county. . . .

You look at it on paper and you think, 'Gee, this is a great place.' You get here and it matches and surpasses, at least in my case, the expectations.

What have the first few weeks been like for you?

They have been exhilarating. They have been exciting. They have been laden with incredible support from the staff, from the internal college community, from the external community. They have been chock-full of meetings and introductions and information. I've been to Annapolis, I think, five times. . . . I immediately became involved in the final leg of the budgetary decisions. I met with the Education Committee of the [Montgomery] County Council. It's one of those situations in which I'm pinching myself because I'm absolutely thrilled to be here.

What do you think are the most significant issues facing Montgomery College right now?

The most significant issues facing the college today have to do with capital funding. We have put forth a request with our [Maryland Association of Community Colleges]. We put forth a request for funding as a group to the governor. Montgomery College's own request was for $40 million. That $40 million has embedded in it $27.8 million for a science center for the Rockville campus, $3.1 million for the renovation of our commons area at Takoma/Silver Spring, and then there's another $1.2 million for the renovation of our Germantown campus.

Instead of the $40 million that we requested, we received $1.2 million -- which is significantly short, so we're constantly pressing forward with our message, and to our delight, our Montgomery County delegation is fully informed and has continued to get the message through that we need this. The $40 million -- what that gets us is 59 classrooms, 106 labs. Of that $40 million, something like 98 percent of the money goes directly toward capacity building.

We also have a need to find a way to assist those students who come to us who are interested in enrolling and are capable, but don't have the financial wherewithal. That's going to be a challenge for the college, and we are working toward that end.

We are a school that has 40 percent of its personnel eligible to retire within a five-year window, so that's going to present a challenge as we work to keep a steady competitive workforce.

We will want to be a school that responds to ever-changing demographics. The goal of maintaining equal access to education for all eligible Montgomery County residents will be at the forefront or our agenda.

Talk a little bit about how the changing demographics affect the college.

They affect the college in a very positive way. You asked earlier about the attraction to Montgomery College. My very first experience after an interview here was a cab ride that I took. I asked the cabbie to take me to the Rockville campus, and we sat outside the campus and he actually said to me, 'Take a look at who's getting off of that bus, because what you're going to see is the world -- you will see the face of the world.' For me personally, one of the added attractions is the level of diversity that this college has so wonderfully embraced.