Former FL Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran Appointed Interim President of New College

Governor DeSantis appointed his political ally Richard Corcoran as interim President of New College. The appointment was approved by the state Board of Governors. Corcoran served as the Florida Education Commissioner and former Speaker of the Florida House. Corcoran was appointed following the controversial termination of President Patricia Okker, part of the Governor’s efforts to combat “trendy ideology” on college campuses in Florida. In an interview in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune describes the changes Corcoran plans to make in his new role.

Corcoran first ran for the Florida House of Representatives in 2010 and was re-elected twice. He has been active in many roles in government including serving as a legislative aide to Paul Hawkes, chief of staff to Marco Rubio, and outside counsel to former House speaker Tom Feeney.

A practicing attorney for more than two decades, Corcoran earned his JD from Regent University. He served in the Naval Reserve while a student. In May 2022 when he resigned as Florida’s education commissioner, he started a law firm and a consulting firm.

Eric Braun Appointed as Interim President at Shawnee State University Effective July 1, 2023

Eric Braun, who served as Shawnee States University’s Vice President for Advancement and Enrollment Management has been appointed as interim president effective July 1. 2023. Braun joined Shawnee State University in 2009, serving as Executive Director of Development and then later as Secretary to the Board of Trustees prior to his appointment as VP for Advancement and Enrollment Management in 2016.

Braun, who earned his JD at Wake Forest University, and an Ed.D at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College, was appointed by Governor Kasich to the Ohio Trust Authority, the board that provides oversight for Ohio’s 529 college savings program. He was elected executive chairman of the board from 2015-2018. Prior to joining Shawnee State University, Braun was the managing partner of a statewide North Carolina law firm, Bunch and Braun, PLLC.

Braun joins a growing number of lawyer presidents with prior fundraising experience. As discussed in more detail in May it Please the Campus: Lawyers Leading Higher Education, over the last three decades, the number of lawyer presidents with professional campus-based fundraising experience has increased from three in the 1990s to twelve in the 2000s and to twenty-six in the 2010s. This is not surprising given the pressure on presidents to generate external resources to support the needs and growth of the campus.

Law Dean Garry Jenkins Named 9th President of Bates College and First Black President

Minnesota Law Dean Garry W. Jenkins has been appointed as the 9th President of Bates College effective July 1, 2023. Jenkins will be the College’s first Black president since its founding in 1855.

In announcing the appointment of Bates, Board Chair John Gillespie said, “Garry is a brilliant and accomplished institutional leader who is steeped in the power and promise of the liberal arts. A 1992 graduate of Haverford College, he has served on the Board of Managers of his alma mater since 2009, including serving as vice chair since 2015.”

Bates is credited with leading the University of Minnesota Law School to a successful conclusion of a record-setting $106 million fundraising campaign (exceeding its initial goal of $80M), and nearly doubled the Law School’s endowment. He was described by Joan T.A. Gabel, the former lawyer president of the University of Minnesota as innovative, creative and collaborative.

Before joining the University of Minnesota as Dean, Garry Jenkins was a professor of law at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law for 12 years and served as associate dean for academic affairs for 8 of those years. The announcement of his appointment also noted that, “Jenkins co-founded and directed the innovative Program on Law and Leadership at Moritz, considered one of the first such programs at a U.S. law school, to teach law students skills and aspects of leadership, such as group dynamics and how to move issues forward, that had not been part of the traditional law school curriculum.”

Bates earned his JD from Harvard Law School and an MS in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School at the same time. He clerked for the Hon. Timothy K Lewis on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and he worked at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, and he served as COO and General Counsel of the Goldman Sachs Foundation.

In addition to a trend of law deans being appointed to campus presidencies, Bates’s experience as a trustee for his alma mater is another experience shared by a growing number of lawyers appointed to lead campuses. The inside information and birds eye view of higher education that board members acquire as volunteers can be very helpful in preparing them to lead a campus.