UCM has had two presidents during Fiscal Year 2019, which is the same number of presidents the university has had since 2010.
At the end of June, Chuck Ambrose told the Board of Governors he was resigning his position as the president of the university because he’d accepted a position as the president and CEO of KnowledgeWorks in Cincinnati.
Ambrose’s resignation meant the first order of business for the Board of Governors in the new fiscal year was to appoint an interim president. On July 3 they appointed Roger Best to that role and he began serving in that capacity Aug. 1.
Ambrose said his new position gives him an opportunity to continue his career in education and contribute in a meaningful but slightly different way.
“If I hadn’t started so young and wasn’t completing 20 years as a president, I wouldn’t have any hesitation seeing myself out over the next 7-10 years still being a college president,” he said. “But when you think that would take you out into three decades… I’m excited to think that I may have a way to contribute at KnowledgeWorks that’s different, and really think ahead for a 10-12 year period for what this transition means.”
Steve Price, associate professor and Faculty Senate president, said while he liked working with Ambrose he is looking forward to working with Best.
“I think Dr. Ambrose did a very good job as president,” he said. “He was very forward thinking and put UCM in a great position to make it through the budget challenges as well as we possibly could. I’m also excited about Dr. Best serving in the interim role. With his background on the financial side of things, I think he is also very well positioned to help us through possibly even more lean budget times. I don’t know that the budget is going to get worse, but I don’t think it’s going to get much better either, and I think getting the university to a level of sustainability is a good thing. And I think Dr. Best is probably the best person in the best position to help make that happen.”
Best said prior to Ambrose’s resignation, he had been looking forward to the new fiscal year after spending the previous fiscal year working with his colleagues on the campus reorganization and the changes associated with the university’s budget.
“I was really looking forward to July after we got through all of our budget changes and got everything in place to relax a little bit,” he said. “Still a lot of hard work to do but not realizing how my July would turn out the way it did.”
Surprising as it was, Best said he was humbled and honored by the Board of Governors choosing him to serve as the interim president and is looking forward to his new role.
“I think it’s an awesome responsibility to serve campus in this capacity,” he said, “and I certainly love the institution, having been here a long time. What I’m very much looking forward to in the fall is getting out and interacting with all of my colleagues and engaging with them to see what they need and what it is they would like for us to be engaged with at the leadership level.”
In addition to working with the campus community on the day-to-day activities that provide for the students, Best said he’s looking forward to continuing some of the initiatives the administration has been working on under Ambrose.
“By virtue of the changing environment of higher education, we can’t sit around for 11 months until a permanent president is identified,” he said. “We have to keep things moving. I’m looking forward to pushing on with some of those initiatives, and I’m looking forward to rolling out some priorities, which I’ll do as part of the State of the University Address.”
The State of the University Address is scheduled for Aug. 22 at 3:15 p.m. in the Highlander Theatre.
