Dr. G. Jeremiah Ryan was appointed President of Bergen Community College and assumed the post on July 1, 2007. 

Prior to his appointment as President at Bergen, Dr. Ryan developed the educational consulting practice for the Alman Group, LLC.  He concentrated in areas of expertise that included board and senior staff development, fund raising counsel, strategic planning assistance, continuous quality training, and government relations, consulting to educational and non-profit organizations throughout New Jersey.

Dr. Ryan also served as President of Raritan Valley Community College in New Jersey for six years and as President of Quincy College in Massachusetts for four years.  While serving as President at both institutions, Dr. Ryan greatly enhanced the profiles, and the services and programs offered of each of the colleges, as well as their involvement in each of the communities they served.  Through fund raising and governmental relations, he also significantly increased the commitment of business and government leaders to the colleges.

Before his service as President, Dr. Ryan served for over twenty years in other higher education administration positions.  He served as an academic dean, chief advancement officer, research and marketing director, executive director of a statewide college association, assistant dean, and member of an educational research commission.  His expertise includes finance and economic development, strategic planning, fund raising, market research, government relations, continuous quality improvement, and staff and board development.  

Dr. Ryan is an active teacher and scholar.  He has served as an adjunct professor at each of the community colleges where he has worked and serves as a national professor of higher education at Nova Southeastern University. He is the editor of four books and the author of over 40 articles about higher education. Two recent articles focused on the role of the president in fund raising.  

For the academic year 2005-2006, Dr. Ryan served as a Post Doctoral Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson School of International and Public Affairs at Princeton University.  He studied politics and leadership of the non-profit sector as part of the New Jersey Community College Mid-Career Fellowship program.  Dr. Ryan has had previous post-doctoral fellowships with the League for Innovation in the Community College and the American Association of Community Colleges.

Dr. Ryan is an honors graduate of Hamilton College with a Bachelor’s degree in Government and Speech.  He earned a Master of Arts degree from Stanford University in Organizational Development and a Master of Science degree from the State University of New York at Albany in Education Administration.  His doctorate is in Higher Education Administration from Nova Southeastern University.  Dr. Ryan’s applied dissertation was an economic impact estimation model that has been subsequently used by over 400 community colleges.

In service to his profession, Dr. Ryan has served on the Board of Directors of the Council for the Advancement of Education, the boards of three councils for the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), and three different AACC commissions.  Nationally, Dr. Ryan participates in The League for Innovation in the Community College, Campus Compact, Combase, and the Community College Continuous Improvement Network.  He currently serves on the Global Education Commission of AACC.

Dr. Ryan has been awarded the Lifetime Distinguished Service Award by the National Council for Research and Planning.  In Somerset County, New Jersey, he has been honored with the Somerset Spirit Award, the Irish Person of the Year Award, and the Business Partnership Person of the Year Award.  He also received the Educator of the Year Award from the Biotechnology Council of New Jersey.

Dr. Ryan represents the community college sector on three statewide boards: Quality New Jersey, State Employment and Training Commission, and the New Jersey Technology Council.  He also serves on the Education Committee of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association.

In service to the community college sector, Dr. Ryan serves on the Budget and Legislative Committees.  He also is on the Government Committee of the state-wide Council of Presidents.

Locally, Dr. Ryan is a member of the Board of Directors of the Commerce and Industry Association, United Way of Bergen County, the Workforce Investment Board, the Meadowlands Regional Chamber of Commerce, Bergen LEADS, the Bergen County Economic Development Council, the Palisades Medical Center, the Foundation for Free Enterprise, the Bergen Community Action Program, and the Business Accelerator Advisory Board.

Note to the Press: A 300 DPI photo of the President can be downloaded from
http://www.bergen.edu/pr/RyanG_300DPI.jpg

Interviews with the President can be arranged by calling the Office of Public Relations at (201) 447-7120.