CCCC President Meets with US Department of Education Under-Secretary

U.S. Under-Secretary of Education Dr. Martha J. Kanter knows even more about Cape Cod Community College today after meeting personally with College President Dr. John Cox in early June. He explored a wide variety of topics with her, all of critical interest to this College’s community and the South Coast region of Massachusetts.

Dr. Cox sought the opportunity after being named CCCC President, and was most appreciative when John S. Wilson, the Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities agreed to assist in setting up a personal meeting in the Under-Secretary’s Washington office.

“This was an important opportunity for me to make a personal connection with Secretary Kanter, who is very familiar with community colleges across the nation, and is charged with planning and policy responsibilities to implement President Obama's goal of increasing the total number of college graduates in this country over the next decade. She and those around her are truly focused on improving college access, affordability, quality, and program completion. Our conversations focused in on those issues and others including workforce development and training, higher education in this state, student housing, and potential funding sources for our own campus initiatives,” explained Dr. Cox. “I will always be looking for ways to make sure 4C’s remains on Washington’s radar, and will take every opportunity to make and build personal relationships in our nation’s capital,” he concluded.

Under-Secretary Kanter clearly understood the context in which Dr. Cox made his presentation. She is the first community college leader to serve in a U.S. Dept. of Education Under-Secretary position. Before coming to Washington, she spent 6 years as Chancellor of one of the largest community college districts in the country, the Foothill-De Anza CC District in California. Her career began in Massachusetts and New York where she’d been an alternative high school teacher prior to joining the staff at San Jose City College in California, ultimately moving to the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office focusing on policy issues and research. Her career continued to advance within the city and community colleges of California before she joined the Obama Administration approximately three years ago.