NOVA President, Members of College Board Attend Community College Natl Legislative Summit

This week, Dr. Kress and members of the College Board attended the National Legislative Summit at the Washington Marriott Marquis. The conference ran from Sunday, Feb. 6 through Wednesday, Feb. 9 and was hosted by the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT), in collaboration with the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC).

Each year, the conference brings together nearly 1,000 community college trustees, presidents and leaders to hear from members of congress and others in the legislative and educational sectors about the climate for higher education, nationally, and how elections and legislative action might affect community colleges.

Attendees have the opportunity to meet with legislators to articulate the importance of educational opportunities for all and to put a face on important higher education issues.  

On Tuesday, Feb. 8, and Wednesday, Feb. 9, Dr. Kress and members of the NOVA College Board met with members of Northern Virginia’s Congressional Delegation. 

In addition to Board Chair Zuzana Steen, three other members participated: Ambassador Joseph Huggins; Mr. Siddique Sheikh, Ms. Catherine Novelli and NOVA student representative to the college board, Tenzin Lodoe who represented the voice of NOVA students. The Board held Zoom meetings with the members and/or staffers for all six members of Northern Virginia’s Congressional Delegation. This included meetings with Senator Kaine, Congressman Wittman, Congressman Beyer and the Legislative Directors or Legislative Assistants for Senator Warner, Congresswoman Wexton and Congressman Connolly. Respecting open meeting requirements, the four members of our Board took turns so that no more than two members of the Board participated in each meeting. Tenzin Lodoe participated in all six meetings as did President Kress, Acting Chief of Staff Tykesha Myrick, Director of Government Affairs Dana Kauffman and our visiting ACE Fellow Janie Valdés. This was an important opportunity for representatives of NOVA to advocate fore key initiatives discussed at the summit.

The conference was opened on Monday morning with remarks from First Lady Dr. Jill Biden. Biden established the first White House Summit on Community Colleges in 2010, and also teaches English for NOVA. U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and U.S. Secretary of Labor Martin Walsh also addressed attendees.

Click here for the full conference agenda, and for the conference web site, click here.

Submitted by:
Kathy Thompson, Communications, KAThompson@nvcc.edu