Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) Board of Regents Chair P.G. Peeples Sr. announced Wednesday Jay K. Box, Ed.D. has been named the next KCTCS President. In a unanimous decision, the board voted this morning at a special session to elect Dr. Box to the position. He will succeed Dr. Michael B. McCall, the first and only KCTCS president. Dr. McCall will retire in January, and Dr. Box will begin serving January 16.
“After interviews with potential candidates were completed, it became clear that our preferred candidate was Dr. Jay Box, our current KCTCS Chancellor,” Peeples said. “He has demonstrated in his current role and through his many years of higher education and community college leadership, that he has the necessary experience, vision and skills to take KCTCS to the next level of becoming the nation’s premier community and technical college system.”
Following the board’s vote, Dr. Box expressed his appreciation for the confidence that the board has shown in him.
“I know and love KCTCS,” Dr. Box said. “I am passionate about the mission and am committed to our role in advancing a more educated and trained workforce in Kentucky.”
Dr. Box, a community college graduate, has more than 30 years of experience in community college leadership.
“Many of our students have complicated lives that can cause them to doubt that they can ever succeed in college,” he said. “We should set goals for students to not just go to college, but to complete it.”
Yesterday, faculty, staff and students had an opportunity to hear from Dr. Box at a forum that was streamed live to all 16 colleges. During the forum, held at the System Office in Versailles, Box spoke about his vision for KCTCS and answered questions that were submitted by faculty, staff and students from around the state.
After the forum, participants completed a survey about their views on Dr. Box’s qualifications and vision for KCTCS. Those results then were sent to the board for review before their vote.
Results from the survey showed 85.7 percent of respondents said he met or exceed their expectations.
Dr. Box is the current KCTCS chancellor, a position he has held since July 1, 2009. As chancellor, he provides systemwide leadership for academic affairs, economic development, workforce training, and research and policy analysis.
While serving as chancellor, Dr. Box chaired the statewide committee that developed the Kentucky Transfer Action Plan. The plan eliminates barriers for community college students transferring to the state’s eight public universities by using student learning outcomes to align curriculum.
In 2011, Dr. Box led an initiative to evaluate and revise the KCTCS dual credit program. The initiative culminated in a statewide dual credit agreement between KCTCS, the Kentucky Department of Education, and the Office of Career and Technical Education.
Currently, Dr. Box serves as the state lead for the Accelerating Opportunity Kentucky initiative, a partnership between KCTCS, Kentucky Adult Education, and the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet to provide contextualized basic skills and technical training with the expected outcome of students earning credentials that lead to high wage, high demand careers.
Dr. Box continues to lead the development of KCTCS Online—Learn on Demand, an award-winning, nationally recognized, revolutionary method of delivering higher education online in a 24/7, modular, competency-based format.
Dr. Box serves on numerous state and national advisory councils including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s National Advisory Group on Financial Aid, the American Association of Community College’s (AACC) Sustainability Education and Economic Development Task Force, the Southern Regional Education Board’s Commission on Career and Technical Education and the Aspen Institute’s Innovation in Higher Education Working Group.
Dr. Box has a history of leadership with KCTCS having served as the president of Hazard Community and Technical College from 2002 – 2007, followed by being named as KCTCS vice president with the primary responsibility of providing leadership to administrative systems, network operations, distance learning technologies and visualized learning and innovation. Prior to coming to KCTCS he served as a vice president at McLennan Community College in Waco, Texas.
Dr. Box received an associate degree from Howard College, a bachelor’s degree in education from Southwest Texas State University in 1976, a master’s degree in education from Texas Tech University in 1985 and a doctorate degree in educational administration, higher education/community college specialty from Baylor University in 1994.
Dr. Box is a native of Crane, Texas. He is married to Gayle Box, senior associate, Strategic Initiatives, for Kentucky Adult Education. They have one son.