College Welcomes New Vice Presidents

Photo: Vice President of Student Services Greg McCalley and Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Paul Reifenheiser

One year into her presidency at Tompkins Cortland Community College, Orinthia Montague has two new vice presidents. Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Paul Reifenheiser and Vice President of Student Services Greg McCalley started this summer. Both posts are revisions to previous positions, part of the natural reorganization due to retirements at the College. Since Carl Haynes retired as president a year ago, four deans have retired, and Provost and Vice President of the College John Conners will retire at the end of the month after 24 years as the chief academic officer at the College.

Reifensheiser comes to Tompkins Cortland after working the last 15 years at Sullivan County Community College, a member of the SUNY system in Loch Sheldrake, New York. In addition to teaching in the classroom, he has held various administrative positions, including division chair and interim vice president for academic and student affairs. Prior to his time at Sullivan, he was a visiting instructor at Florida State University and an adjunct instructor at SUNY New Paltz. While he has learned from each of his stops, it was his time at Sullivan that had the biggest impact. “I didn’t have any community college experience, and honestly, I thought it would be a stepping stone,” said Reifenheiser about his time at Sullivan. “But while I was there, I realized that if you really love teaching, you need to be at a community college. Our students need exceptional, passionate teachers. If you really care about your craft as a teacher, a community college is a wonderful place to be. You change people for the better – I know it changed me for the better.”

Even though Reifenheiser’s new position will take him out of the classroom, he doesn’t think that means he is done teaching. “I think every one of us is an educator,” said the new Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs. “I love teaching, but I also love helping teachers. It’s very rewarding on a personal level, and it’s still helping with the main mission of the College.”

While Reifenheiser came to Tompkins Cortland from a fellow SUNY school, McCalley’s trip to Tompkins Cortland was a bit longer. He spent the last seven years working in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, working at three different campuses and holding positions of Interim Dean of Students (Normandale Community College in Bloomington), Interim Vice President for Student Services and Enrollment Management (Century College in White Bear Lake), and Dean of Student Affairs (Dakota County Technical College in Rosemount). Prior to his time in Minnesota, McCalley worked in the University of Missouri System for 16 years, with titles including Associate Vice Provost for Student Affairs, Enrollment Services and Student Success, Assistant Vice Provost for Student Success, and Manager of Student Services. He started his professional career with a seven-year stay at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri, as the Director of Operations for the Office of Enrollment Services.

He may have come a long ways to join the staff at Tompkins Cortland, but he isn’t coming into a completely unknown situation: he worked with President Montague in both Missouri and Minnesota, and wanted the chance to work with her again. “I know she has a vision, and I want to be part of that,” said McCalley. “It’s exciting to be back with her, working to create a true student affairs division, united in the goal of helping students succeed. We have a strong foundation in place here, and I’m looking forward to finding ways that we can better help our students.”

McCalley shares more than history with Montague: they both stress collaboration and making sure the College meets the needs of the community. “Those are vital to what we do as an institution,” said McCalley. “We need to look for opportunities for better partnerships, both on campus and in the communities. We can create systems that better help students through the entire process from admission to graduation to their next phase in life, but only by working together.”

McCalley is a graduate of Rockhurst University with a B.S.B.A. in marketing with computer science emphasis and an M.B.A. with management and marketing emphasis. He holds an Ed.S. in higher educational administration from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Reifenheiser has a B.A. in English from Villanova University (Penn.), an M.A. in English from St. John’s University (N.Y.), and a Ph.D. in English, American Literature/Critical Theory from Florida State University.