MEC Provost, VP Enrollment Mgt & Student Success Announcement
Throughout the fall, NOVA conducted national searches for our college’s Medical Education Campus (MEC) Provost and Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Success. Today, I am excited to announce these new NOVA leaders.
As we conclude these important searches, I thank all of you who participated by meeting with the candidates, attending their presentations and providing your feedback. Your engagement truly strengthens our searches and our college.
I offer these outstanding leaders my congratulations and very much look forward to working with them in service to NOVA’s students, faculty and staff! I know you join me in welcoming them to these new roles.
Medical Education Campus Provost
Dr. Shelly Powers, current NOVA Dean for Health Sciences, has been named MEC Provost and will begin this role on January 1.
Dr. Powers holds a Doctor of Medical Science from the University of Lynchburg, a Master of Administrative Management from Bowie State University and a Bachelor of Science in Physician Assistant from Howard University.
Prior to joining NOVA three years ago, she held faculty and academic administrative roles at Howard University, where she served as Assistant Professor, Senior Academic Director and Chair of the Physician Assistant Program; and at Anne Arundel Community College, where she served as interim Program Director of the Physician Assistant Program. As a Howard faculty member, she was active on Faculty Senate, including service on the Budget and Grievance Committees; and she was honored by Howard’s College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences for Excellence in Leadership.
Dr. Powers also brings significant clinical experience to her new role. She has served as the Clinical Director of Palliative Care at Aspire Health (Baltimore, Md.), the Executive Director of D.C.’s Area Health Education Center, and as an OB-GYN Physician Assistant (PA) at Providence Hospital (D.C.). In addition, Dr. Powers has been the Principal Investigator on over $3M of Department of Health and Human Services federal grants related to increasing access of under-represented students to healthcare pathways. She has an exemplary track record of leading health sciences programs and students to success and of recruiting and supporting faculty in these complex disciplines. As Provost, Dr. Powers will build upon her experience at the MEC and her relationships with our regional healthcare partners as the campus plans its $25M expansion and as demand for healthcare workers continues to grow. Her commitment to community outreach and engagement models the MEC’s original vision and sets a strong course for its future.
As we welcome Dr. Powers to this new role, I express my appreciation to Dr. Beatrice McKeithen, who has served as interim MEC Provost since April. Dr. McKeithen has provided excellent leadership and advocacy for the MEC. I also thank Provost Annette Haggray and the members of the MEC Provost search committee for their diligence and dedication to the process.
Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Success
Dr. Michelle Brown-Nevers has been named Vice President of Enrollment Management and Student Success. She will begin her role at our college on February 1.
Dr. Brown-Nevers holds a Doctor of Education and a Master of Education, both from Teachers College, Columbia University, in addition to a Master of Science in Education and a Bachelor of Business Administration from CUNY-Baruch College. She also holds certificates in High Impact Leadership and Leading Strategic Growth and Change (Columbia University) and Management Development (Harvard GSE).
She has had an accomplished 30-plus-year career in student services, during which she has held roles of progressive responsibility at two- and four-year colleges and universities, including Pratt Institute; NYC Technical College; Teachers College, Columbia; the University of Pennsylvania; and currently, Montgomery County Community College. There, she serves as Associate Vice President for Student Services, having previously been the college’s Executive Director for Enrollment Management.
Dr. Brown-Nevers brings a wealth of leadership and experience and a strong track record to NOVA. She led Montgomery County Community College’s strategic enrollment management plan and integrated the college’s student-facing functions from admissions through advising. She has strong budgeting and administrative experience, having managed budgets of up to $13M and as many as 100 full-time employees. She has led divisions that processed and collected $1B in tuition revenue and over $400M in undergraduate student aid.
She has been an active and engaged higher education community member, modeling the level of involvement expected of a NOVA vice president. Dr. Brown-Nevers serves on advisory committees for the CommonApp, has been an instructor for the U.S. Department of Education and is a charter member of the American Association of Blacks in Higher Education. She has been a consultant to the National Student Clearinghouse and to two- and four-year universities, including George Washington University and McGill University.
Dr. Brown-Nevers is excited to work with the Enrollment Management and Student Success team and will be spending time getting to know her new division and colleagues in advance of her February start date. I thank Dr. Syedur Rahman, who will retire at the end of this year, for his interim leadership of the division during the last semester. Dr. Rahman has been a consistent and powerful voice for our students throughout his career at NOVA, and he brought this essential focus to his interim role to the great benefit of our college. I also thank Provost Sam Hill and the members of the search committee for the time and energy they dedicated to their work.
Reprinted from Dr. Kress’ Announcement to the NOVA Community (Dec. 15, 2021)