NMC’s Staff Senate gets a new president

Employees of the Northern Marianas College have elected Marie Coleman as the new president of the Staff Senate. She succeeds Lorraine T. Cabrera on the post and will serve as an honorary member of the Board of Regents.

Coleman was welcomed by board chair Juan T. Lizama when she formally took the post and participated in the regular board assembly Thursday last week.

Coleman has been working at NMC for more than a year now as an accountant at the college’s finance office.

Aside from being an employee, Coleman is also an alumnae and a community member “who is deeply committed to making a positive difference at NMC” and helping in the efforts to ensure that students and future generations have the same opportunity that she had to pursue a degree at the only local community college on island.

She told Saipan Tribune: “I tend to take a stakeholders’ approach to looking at things instead of being just an employee of NMC.”

As Staff Senate president, Coleman said it is her personal goal to maintain the trust and confidence of staff members by providing good leadership and maintaining an open and effective communication.

“I am also committed to being responsible and diligent in fulfilling the duties of my position to the best of my abilities. The staff participation in the shared governance has always been an integral and respected part of the decision-making process at NMC and I sincerely hope that it would continue,” she said.

Coleman also vowed to ensure that NMC staff members are well represented and that their concerns and recommendations will be valued and respected at all levels of the college.

Early this month, a new Faculty Senate president was also named: John Cook. He replaced Dr. John Griffin who retired from service this month. Cook will serve as president until May 2012, which is when the Faculty Senate elects officers for the 2012-2013 year. He also serves as an honorary member of the Board of Regents.

Since December 2010 Cook has served as the CNMI Archivist at the CNMI Archives located at the college’s As Terlaje campus. In addition to his duties in the CNMI Archives, Cook currently teaches a course in the college’s criminal justice program.

NMC has two staff classifications: faculty and non-instructional employees.