Cowley College has announced Dr. Rachel Bates as its new vice president of academic affairs.
The post was previously held by now college president Dr. Michelle Schoon.
The Cowley College Board of Trustees named Schoon the interim president of Cowley on Feb. 2 following the termination of Dr. Randy Smith. Schoon’s interim tag was removed and officially hired as president in March.
“Needing to fill the void left when Cowley College’s previous vice president of academic affairs, Dr. Michelle Schoon, took over as the president of the school, the College believes they have found the right person with the recent hiring of Dr. Rachel Bates,” the college said in a news release Wednesday.
Bates graduated with her doctorate in Mathematics Education from the University of Oklahoma. She was the recipient of the Social Justice Fellow at the University of Oklahoma and was a participant at the NACEP Leadership Academy.
She began her professional academic career at Cowley College when she served as an adjunct math instructor in 2005.
Bates most recently served as the associate vice chancellor for educational partnerships at the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education before returning to Cowley.
“The opportunity to return to the institution that started my professional academic career interested me in the position,” Bates said. “I know Cowley’s mission and vision, and I value the role that community colleges specifically provide to students.”
Cowley says Bates’ determination will be an asset.
“Bates is unapologetically passionate about higher education and is a bold advocate for dramatically increasing college completion rates and closing institutional performance gaps by working internally and with national partners to scale highly effective structural reforms and promote policies and practices that improve student success,” the college said.
In this new role, Bates looks forward to returning to campus and engaging with students and faculty, Cowley says.
“I would like to apply my experiences and skill set to help Cowley continue to serve students at the highest level of academic excellence,” Bates said.
