Dr. Dan Hocoy, president, MCC-Longview, and vice chancellor, strategic initiatives
Dan Hocoy, Ph.D., became president of Metropolitan Community College's Longview campus in Lee’s Summit and the College’s vice chancellor of strategic initiatives on July 1, 2020.
He joined MCC from State University of New York’s Erie Community College, which he served as president since July 2017. The SUNY community college includes three campuses - rural, suburban and urban - and more than 22,000 students. Hocoy is also a licensed clinical psychologist and has worked in psychiatric hospitals as well as private practice.
Hocoy has served as president of Antioch University in Seattle and associate vice chancellor for advancement for the nationwide five-campus Antioch University system. He was previously associate provost and a tenured professor at Saybrook University in California from 2010-2014.
Hocoy said the dual role at MCC "combines, in my mind, the best of both worlds — overseeing strategic advancement of the entire College while still being around the energy of students. I know I will enjoy cultivating the relationships that will help MCC expand its reach, footprint and resources. At the same time, I love the fact that I will still get to be on campus with students, faculty and staff."
As a non-native English speaker and the first in his family to go beyond high school, Hocoy says he regards community colleges as critical to social mobility and equity. Having been the beneficiary of public education from kindergarten to graduate school, he says he sees state education systems "as vital to empowering local communities as well as contributing to the workforce needs and economic competitiveness of the region."
With a grandmother from Jamaica, mother from Malaysia and father from China, and having immigrated from Trinidad and Tobago to Canada, Hocoy has had a longstanding commitment to creating a campus environment that supports diversity, inclusive excellence and global perspectives.
Hocoy holds a B.Sc. (bachelor of science) from the University of Toronto and an M.A. and Ph.D. in psychology from Queen's University in Canada. He is also a graduate of Harvard University''s Management and Leadership in Education executive program as well as the Harvard Seminar for New Presidents. He has written numerous articles and book chapters that intersect psychology, art, culture and higher education.
Dr. Tyjaun A. Lee, president, MCC-Penn Valley
Tyjaun A. Lee, Ph.D., joined Metropolitan Community College in August 2017 as president of the Penn Valley campus in midtown Kansas City. For two years, starting in July 2018, she also led MCC-Maple Woods in Kansas City's Northland before returning full time to Penn Valley in July 2020.
Lee, who has more than 20 years of progressive experience in higher education, came to MCC from Prince George's Community College in Maryland, where she was vice president for student affairs. In that role, she was responsible for a range of administrative units and functions, including recruitment, enrollment, marketing, athletics and student auxiliary services, and she served as a member of the senior leadership team.
Lee was honored in 2020 with the Paragon Award for New Presidents from Phi Theta Kappa, the academic honor society for students at two-year colleges. She was inducted into the Black Achievers Society of Greater Kansas City in 2019. She serves on the board of directors of the Urban Ranger Corps, which provides young men in Kansas City’s urban core with positive role models, tutors and life skills. She serves on the Broadway Westport Council, which oversees community development projects.
She has served as president of the American Association for Women in Community Colleges. She received the 2019 Tribute to Success award from Connections to Success, which helps people living in poverty become economically self-sufficient; she is a member of the board of directors. She has served as past president of the National Council on Student Development. She is a member of the Presidents’ Round Table of the National Council on Black American Affairs, which is affiliated with the American Association of Community Colleges.
A Cleveland native, Lee holds three degrees from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio: a bachelor’s in specialized studies; a master’s in education; and a doctorate of philosophy in educational leadership with an emphasis in higher education administration.
Dr. Thomas W. Meyer, president, MCC-Blue River and MCC-Business & Technology
Thomas W. Meyer, Ph.D., became president of Metropolitan Community College’s Blue River and Business & Technology campuses in June 2019. Meyer came to Kansas City from Lehigh Carbon Community College in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, where he was vice president for academic services and student development.
Meyer’s academic career has included the positions of faculty member, department chair, associate dean, dean and vice president. He served as vice president for academic services and student development at Lehigh Carbon since 2015. Key accomplishments there included leading faculty through a reorganization to create seven schools and a transition to a 14-week calendar allowing for a winter session to help boost online enrollment. He also recruited and increased Latino enrollment, launched a successful initiative to focus employee efforts on completion and retention, and doubled grants received by the college.
Meyer previously served as center dean, academic and student affairs, at Broward College in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where among other accomplishments he founded and raised funds for the Block Party for Higher Education and created the Food, Arts and Business (FAB) Center concept. At Miami Dade College he served as dean and associate dean of academic affairs and was chair of the Department of English as a Second Language, Foreign Languages and Translation/Interpretation. A major success for him at Miami Dade was co-creating and implementing the Miami Culinary Institute. He previously worked as a full-time faculty lecturer at the University of Miami and at Drexel University in Philadelphia.
Meyer holds a B.A. in English literature; an M.S. in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages; and a Ph.D. in educational linguistics, all from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. His doctoral thesis topic was language and power in disagreements.
Dr. Larry Rideaux Jr., president, MCC-Maple Woods
Larry Rideaux Jr., Ed.D., became president of Metropolitan Community College’s Maple Woods campus in Kansas City North on June 1, 2020.
Rideaux came to MCC from Texas Southmost College in Brownsville, Texas, where he served as vice president of student services. The community college has about 8,600 credit-seeking students and sits just across the border from Matamoros, Mexico.
Before joining Texas Southmost in September 2018, Rideaux spent six years at the Tarrant County College District in Texas, where he was vice president of student development; acting vice president for academic and student affairs; and interim dean of humanities. He worked in several roles from 1998-2012 at Lone Star College in Houston, including as associate vice chancellor for student success and dean of student development.
One thing that attracted him to MCC, Rideaux said, was the College’s “strong student success agenda.” Another was the chance to work with Chancellor Kimberly Beatty: “She has a national reputation for doing really great work.”
During his interview process in the spring of 2020 (all done via videoconferencing because of the coronavirus pandemic), Rideaux said he heard repeatedly about shared governance at MCC — how information flows from the college district to the campuses and vice versa. Something else he learned: that employees stay for “years and years,” which he attributes to MCC’s healthy institutional climate and culture.
In his position at Texas Southmost, Rideaux was responsible for student recruitment, advising, student activities, financial aid, transfer, testing, accessibility resources, career services and recreational sports.
Rideaux holds a B.S. in psychology from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas; an M.A. in counseling from Prairie View A&M University; and an Ed.D. in educational administration from the University of Texas (Austin) Community College Leadership Program. He completed the Thomas Lakin Institute for Mentored Leadership and the American Association of Community Colleges’ (AACC) Future Leaders Institute.
Sandra Garcia, chief legal officer
Sandra Garcia became Metropolitan Community College's chief legal officer in November 2017. She joined MCC from Houston Community College, where she served as an executive in the role of assistant general counsel.
At MCC, Garcia oversees the legal office. She provides support and services to the Executive Cabinet and administrators on various legal matters. As a member of the Executive Cabinet, she reports to Chancellor Kimberly Beatty.
Garcia's area of responsibilities as an assistant general counsel at Houston Community College included labor and employment, equal employment opportunity (EEO), contracts, open records, policy, regulations, compliance and student matters. She says she was privileged to be a part of Imagine HCC 2019, a comprehensive strategic plan that focused on student success, organizational stewardship, performance excellence and innovation. As a project manager for numerous strategic initiatives districtwide, she was charged with overseeing the work of project teams.
Garcia holds a bachelor of arts in history from Baylor University, where she focused on women’s studies. She continued her history studies in the master of arts program at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Soon after she developed an interest in law, earning a juris doctorate from Texas Southern University.