Mark McCormick, vice president for academic and student affairs at Middlesex County College was named interim president of the junior college, effective July 1.
The college’s Board of Trustees made the appointment at its June 13 meeting.
“Mark brings the right combination of experience and creativity to this position as we search for a permanent president,” Dorothy K. Power, chairman of the board, said in a statement provided by the college that is located in Edison. “We are very confident in his abilities as we move forward.”
Middlesex County College President Joann La Perla-Morales is retiring at the end of June; McCormick will serve while the board initiates a national search for a permanent president.
McCormick has been vice president at the school since 2014. As the chief academic officer, he oversees the operations for all academic programming, recruitment and enrollment efforts, as well as student support services and the New Brunswick and Perth Amboy centers, according to the statement.
Among other achievements, McCormick helped lead the effort to develop a one-stop student services center, incorporating admissions, registration, financial aid, veterans services, advisement, career and transfer services, and student accounts into one location. He also helped develop several new academic programs, as well as transfer agreements with numerous four-year colleges and universities, according to the statement.
“I’m honored that the board has entrusted me with leading the college during this period,” he said in the statement. “I hope we can build on the success we have had the past 13 years under Dr. La Perla-Morales.”
Before joining Middlesex, McCormick was vice president at Salem Community College and Mercer County Community College, and he was a faculty member at Mercer, the Community College of Philadelphia and Peirce Junior College, also in Philadelphia.
He holds a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania, a law degree from New York University, and a bachelor’s degree from Davidson College in North Carolina.
