Northwest dean earns doctorate in community college leadership

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SENATOBIA, MS (02/14/2018) Northwest Mississippi Community College officials are pleased to announce that David Campbell, district dean of Career, Technical and Workforce Education, recently earned his doctorate in Community College Leadership from Mississippi State University. Campbell's dissertation is titled "Leadership frames in comprehensive community colleges: Implications for the market-responsive college."

"The study provides aspiring and existing leaders of colleges responsive to their communities and businesses with possible lenses to view commonly experienced issues and to gain insight into the benefits of multiple leadership perspectives," Campbell said.

Campbell served as a Student Support Services counselor, director of the Career Counseling center, and associate dean at Northwest from September 1989 to September 2005, when he accepted a positon on the Rankin campus of Hinds Community College as dean of Career and Technical education. He returned to Northwest in 2013 as district dean.

Since 2013, the Career, Technical and Workforce Education Division has seen many changes, according to Campbell. Northwest has established the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership in the northwest Mississippi region to address training and communication needs among manufacturers, economic developers and training providers.

"One benefit of this partnership is paid internship opportunities for students in our Industrial Electronics Technology Program. Our division has become more community centered, improving relationships with community leaders and economic developers in our district," Campbell said.

Northwest has implemented a model MI-BEST Program (Mississippi's Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training Program) with high success rates. The Early Childhood Academy, funded through the Mississippi Community College Board by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, was established to improve child care in local communities. Northwest secured funding for a job coach from Families First for Mississippi to improve students' professional skills, such as job interviewing, resume preparation, communication, and work ethic and also partnered with not-for-profit Base Camp Coding Academy in Water Valley to provide a hands-on, challenging program, designed to train students to be software developers in 12 months.

"We've also improved performance of our career and technical programs as measured by the federal Carl Perkins Act indicators and college measures and have completed two new buildings and renovation of three existing buildings housing our career, technical and workforce programs," Campbell said.

He began his educational career at Northwest, studying liberal arts for one year before transferring to Blue Mountain College where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. He earned his Master of Education in Guidance and Counseling from The University of Mississippi. Campbell is a member of the Chief Career and Technical Officers and Deans' Association of Mississippi, the Association of Career-Technical Education (ACTE) and participated in the MidSouth Community College Fellowship Program in 2005.

To learn more about Northwest's Career, Technical, and Workforce Education programs, visit the college's website at www.northwestms.edu, or call 662-562-3361 for Career-Tech or 662-562-3457 for Workforce Development.