Taylor Officially Joining the Terra State Executive Team
William “Bill” Taylor has accepted the Vice President (VP) of Academic Affairs position at Terra State Community College. Taylor has served as Interim VP of Academic Affairs since August 13, 2018.
After all of the work Taylor has done for the College, President Ronald Schumacher feels confident Taylor will continue working to improve the College as VP of Academic Affairs. “The reason I feel the timing is right to take the ‘interim’ off Bill’s title is because of our work on the strategic plan and all of the things he has done in assisting in making sure we improve ourselves as a college, especially in academics and advising,” Dr. Schumacher said.
Taylor is excited to continue working to make a positive impact. “We’ve been through a lot of change in the last few years, partially because we lost some of that leadership who helped create the College. I think it’s important for the institution to have some stability, some consistency and that’s something I’m going to try to provide.”
President Schumacher agrees that the College needs a solid foundation of leadership to make the changes necessary. “I feel the need for consistency. The revolving door in many leadership positions needs to end,” he said.” If you bring somebody new in, it’s going to take six to 18 months before they’re caught up to speed with the culture in the organization, with the vision and with the new direction we want to take coming out of strategic planning.”
Since Taylor was named Interim VP of Academic Affairs, he has helped the College grow in numerous ways. He assisted with the implementation of new college website by verifying academic information conformity across catalog, web, syllabi and Ohio Department of Higher Education (ODHE) data systems and developed 18 unique College Credit Plus (CCP) pathways with Vanguard/Sentinel Vocational Center, just to name a few.
Director of Human Resources Jeremy McLaney is impressed with the amount of work Taylor has already accomplished. “In the short term that Ron was promoted in November, Bill has been involved and completed many tasks,” McLaney said. “He’s finalized a number of articulation agreements with area partners, revamped the program descriptions for each program and modified various elements of curriculum development. In retrospect, Bill went all in without even focusing on the ‘interim’ title.”
Taylor’s first experience with Terra State was in the early 1990s when he guest lectured for a business law class. Since then, he has served in a number of roles at the College, one large role being a faculty member.
“I never thought I was going to be in education, never thought I would become a teacher, nothing. But when I started, I just loved it from day one,” Taylor said.
Dr. Schumacher believes his experience as a faculty member will help him in his new role. “Working with faculty is sometimes the most critical aspect with community colleges,” Dr. Schumacher said. “Watching him over the last seven or eight months, I think he has done a nice job working with faculty and empowering them to assist with further development of academic programs.”
Taylor has held a number of titles at Terra State. He has also contributed to the College in many other facets, some including serving on a variety of committees, developing curriculums for a number of programs, organizing the Women’s Leadership Forum from 2013 to 2017 and attending graduation as the Commencement Speaker in 2000. Currently, Currently, Taylor chairs the Council for Academic and Student Affairs, Administrative Council and is a member of the Terra State Student Success Leadership Institute and the Terra College Foundation Board.
There are many ways in which Taylor hopes to positively influence the College. He mentioned three goals in particular.
One goal is to put a stronger focus on the technical side. “We started out as a technical college focused on career and technology education and I want to bring that back as a focus for this institution,” he said.
Taylor also wants to make sure the College is fulfilling its obligations to the state of Ohio, especially in regards to transferring credits. “I want to make sure that our students and community know that we’re fulfilling the institution’s commitment to transfer and make sure that our students are getting a high quality liberal arts general education. For students whose goal is transfer, getting a four year degree or even go on beyond that, they’ll get a great foundation at Terra State.”
His third goal is to continue to strengthen the Allied Health programs. “We have great programs meeting or exceeding the highest accreditation standards. It’s a direct result of our faculty commitment.”
Taylor has a Master of Education (M.Ed.) in Career Technology from Bowling Green State University (BGSU), a Bachelor of Arts in in Economics with a management concentration from Ohio Wesleyan University and has continued his education by taking a variety of graduate level classes at different universities and coursework at Terra State.
Being a part of the community is something else that is important to Taylor. He is a member in the Ohio Association of Economists and Political Scientists, the Ohio Association of Business Program Administrators, Council of Academic and Student Affairs, among many others. He has volunteered at Greyhound Rescue and as a Sand Otter Swimming Administrator.
“It’s always been a blessing to work here,” Taylor said. “This is the community I grew up in. I was born in Fremont, I’m a Fremont Ross alum and both my wife and I have taken classes here. I’ve had over a dozen family members who have taken classes here, my kids went to the ELC (Early Learning Center) from six weeks of age. I don’t think I would have the same level of passion if it was someplace else.”