Position Filled! Dr. Daria J. Willis Offered Role of New President

The+board+of+trustees+announce+their+unanimous+decision+to+offer+Dr.+Daria+J.+Willis+the+position+of+president+of+EvCC.++Pending+contract+negotiations%2C+Dr.+Willis+has+accepted+the+position+with+tentative+plans+to+announce+and+vote+on+Willis%E2%80%99+contract+next+Monday.%0A

Sarah D. Zimmerman

The board of trustees announce their unanimous decision to offer Dr. Daria J. Willis the position of president of EvCC. Pending contract negotiations, Dr. Willis has accepted the position with tentative plans to announce and vote on Willis’ contract next Monday.

Atira Roberts
Dr. Daria Willis inside Jackson Conference Center before the student forum. The EvCC board of trustees unanimously voted on Monday, April 29, to extend an offer to her for the position of president of the college.

Presidential candidate Dr. Daria J. Willis was offered the college presidency by the EvCC board of trustees in a unanimous vote Monday evening during a special board meeting session. The session went into overtime as the board of trustees debated on whom to pick from the candidates, finally deciding on Dr. Willis.

Pending contract negotiations, Dr. Willis has accepted the position with tentative plans to announce and vote on Willis’ contract next Monday.

Our decision to go with Dr. Willis was her vision, her energy, her innovation and the impact that she had with the interviews and the committee forums. We feel very confident that she’ll lead us into the next great period for this college.

— Mike Deller, board of trustees

“Our decision to go with Dr. Willis was her vision, her energy, her innovation and the impact that she had with the interviews and the committee forums that really helped us with our decision. We feel very confident that she’ll lead us into the next great period for this college,” said Mike Deller, board trustee.

Dr. Daria J. Willis is the senior vice president and provost of Onondaga Community College in Syracuse, New York, part of the New York College system. She has focused on programs to enrich the lives of the people at her colleges as well as the community.

With an emphasis on underprivileged students, Dr. Willis has helped implement Weekend College, a program where working students can take classes on the weekend, and Box of Books, a program to provide students with lower-priced textbooks and technology.   

For 2018 Dr. Willis was recognized with a “40 Under 40” award by the  American Association for Women in Community Colleges.

The board of trustees took the time to thank everyone who helped with the national presidential search committee including the students, staff, faculty, and community members who sat in on the forums. They also thanked all of the candidates.  

“I want to especially take a moment to thank all those filled out the evaluation forms after each forum. We did read them and they were taken to heart when we went through our deliberations.” Said Toraya Miller, board trustee.

Several Trustees noted the difficulty in selecting from the last three highly-qualified presidential candidates. Bob Bolerjack, a board trustee, noted the “robust” nature of the debates as they discussed which candidate to offer the presidential contract during executive session.

“Everett Community College is very fortunate in that it has literally an embarrassment of riches in these three candidates,” Said Vicki Norris, EvCC board trustee, “I’ve been proud to be a part of this process.”