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The North Carolina Community College System has chosen the former leader of Louisiana’s community colleges as its next president, which the search committee dubbed the Tar Heel State’s “most important job.”
Monty Sullivan will serve as acting president at first, though a start date was not announced Thursday. The State Board of Community Colleges nominates candidates, but the General Assembly must confirm their pick—a new process lawmakers enacted three years ago.
Sullivan retired in January as president of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System, a role he held for 12 years. He has worked in higher education in Louisiana for more than three decades, except for serving as a vice chancellor and interim president of the Virginia Community College System for four years.
Sullivan succeeds Jeff Cox, who announced his retirement last summer and spent three years in the role. The top job for North Carolina’s two-year system has seen significant turnover since Scott Ralls left in 2015 after seven years. Two recent presidents held the job for 18 months or less; Peter Hans left in 2020 after roughly two years to lead the UNC System. Interim leaders have filled the gaps at various points.
Ralls, who is now president of Wake Technical Community College, praised Sullivan’s appointment in a news release Thursday. The pair have testified to Congress together on higher education and workforce topics, per the release.
“I’ve sat in the System president’s chair and I can tell you what this moment asks for. Dr. Monty Sullivan and I made the case for Workforce Pell to members of Congress, and I watched him do the thing the best system leaders do—turn what employers need into policy that reaches students,” Ralls said in the release. “Wake Tech serves more students than some states’ entire systems, and I want this leader for our state. There is not a better person in the country to lead North Carolina’s community colleges.”
In Louisiana, Sullivan is credited with nearly doubling the two-year system’s graduates and growing its enrollment to its highest-ever at more than 130,000 students. (North Carolina’s community colleges enrolled nearly 663,000 students last academic year.) He also raised money for student scholarships and focused on building and improving facilities across the state.
“Dr. Monty Sullivan has the passion, experience, vision, character, and proven record to lead our Community College System at the speed of business and innovation,” said Tom Looney, chair of the State Board of Community Colleges.
Ralls told The Assembly before the announcement that the next system president would need to provide stable leadership at a time of momentum and notable changes.
“The system leadership is very important to us at each campus, whether you’re as big as we are or a smaller campus,” Ralls said in an interview. “And having as much transition as we’ve had over the last decade has not helped any of us in the colleges.”
The colleges are in the midst of implementing Propel NC, a new funding formula that will award money to programs based on their demand in the labor market and could become a blueprint for other states. Lawmakers awarded the system $57.5 million for the model in the state budget. Community colleges are also in the spotlight nationally as they are able for the first time to offer federal financial aid for short-term credential programs through the Workforce Pell Grant. But less than 1% of programs offered at North Carolina’s two-year schools are expected to be eligible this year.
Ralls described the job as a balancing act between college administration and politics that will require Sullivan to work with lawmakers to secure funding for community colleges and advance the system’s priorities. Thursday’s news release noted that he led Louisiana’s two-year schools under Republican and Democratic governors and that he worked with legislators of both parties.
“It’s not an easy job,” Ralls said. “Of course, it shouldn’t be an easy job.”
Sullivan projected confidence as he awaits confirmation.
“North Carolina’s Community College System has built something the rest of the country watches,” he said in the news release. “That work happens across North Carolina—in welding labs, nursing programs, and early college classrooms. I’m committed to reaching every student who wants a better job and every employer who can’t find enough skilled workers. I’m grateful to the State Board for its confidence, and we will deliver.”
