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3 Miami Dade College Leaders Named

Posted on: Saturday, 1 October 2005, 03:01 CDT

By Noah Bierman, The Miami Herald

Sep. 30--Miami Dade College President Eduardo Padron appointed new presidents for three campuses Thursday, including for a newly designated campus in Hialeah.

The new presidents, who start in November, will oversee academics and finances on their campuses and report to Padron. MDC, America's largest college, has seven campuses around the county and says it serves 160,000 students.

Cindy Miles, 51, leaves her job as vice president of Denver Community College to head MDC's newest campus in Hialeah, which serves about 4,600 students.

"It's an area of great opportunity and, obviously, need," Miles said.

Miles said she's learning Spanish, but comes from a college that also serves a large Hispanic population like Hialeah has.

Jeanne Jacobs, 51, takes over in Homestead for Richard Schinoff, who retired. The campus serves 4,000 students.

"Obviously, there are opportunities to work with the community and the mayor in that area," said Jacobs, who leaves a job as vice president of Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio.

Kweku Bentil, 60, will supervise the Medical Center College of 2,400 students. He comes from Indiana State University, where he was dean of graduate studies.

But long before that, he went to a small college in Brooklyn, formerly known as New York City Community College.

"I'm a community college baby and proud of it," he said.

Bentil has worked as a college administrator for 14 years, but served as chief operating officer of a construction company earlier in his career. Community college students also have a variety of life experiences, expectations and abilities, he said, and that's the challenge.

"I don't think I would be here today if it wasn't for community college," Bentil said.

None of the new presidents knew which campuses they would oversee until they were offered the job. So they were just beginning to learn specific dynamics of those campuses. They were in town Thursday for a board of trustees meeting, but have not yet moved here.

Each will earn $140,000 annual salaries plus benefit packages worth about $50,000.

They were selected from a national search that included about 135 applicants. Padron said he chose the presidents because they demonstrated the accomplishments and attitude to meet the college's challenges -- which include educating many ill-prepared students and depending upon limited state funding.

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Source: The Miami Herald

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