News out of Florida is that the President of Frederick Community College, Carol Eaton, is one of four finalists to be the new president of Daytona State, a university in Florida with a $94.5 million budget and 25,500 students.
Here is what News-Journalonline has to say about Eaton.
Carol Eaton
As the first candidate to interview before the Daytona State College presidential search committee recently, Carol Eaton smiled and told the members her final words are to remember “I’m No. 1.”
That sense of humor is part of her personality, which she said is important to make sure people have “good feelings about coming to work every day.”
“People come to us because they want to improve their life and the life of their family,” said Eaton, a two-time community college president who now heads up Frederick Community College in Maryland. “It is a very serious business, but that doesn’t mean we have to be somber about it.”
Eaton — who has been in college administration about 18 years, is married to Charles and enjoys running — had wanted to be a math teacher since she was in junior high. Her mom was a teacher and she was influenced by a math teacher in high school.
She taught for about 13 years with a specialty in statistics.
In addition to interviewing at Daytona State, Eaton is also a finalist for president at Thomas Nelson Community College in Virginia where she interviewed last week.
She enjoys administrative work because of “the variety I see in my job every day. I get to deal with students and I see the impact education has on their lives. I get to deal with local businessmen and women and see the important impact the college has on their work force and business.”
Eaton, who did not provide her age, said she was the fifth president in four years, including two interims, when she arrived at Clinton Community College in New York in September 2000. The college went through turmoil and challenges before she arrived and she increased enrollment and added new programs. That experience, she said, “gives me the confidence to say I can be helpful in healing an institution and move on beyond any controversy that exists.”
Eaton jokingly told the search committee recently that her nickname is “the policy queen.”
Policies are a way to ensure to the public, she said, “that we are accomplishing our mission and are successful.”
Nick Diaz, chairman of the Frederick Community College board of trustees, said Eaton is an “outstanding CEO” who is “persuasive” and knows how to delegate as well as being a “superb politician” in getting funding for the college.
“Not only is she smart, capable, persuasive, and strong,” he said, “she is honest, ethical, moral and just plain good.”
Tom Kleinhanzl, , CEO of Frederick Memorial Healthcare System, where Eaton serves on the board, said Eaton is “an incredibly hardworking person and very strong advocate for the community college.”
“She was very quick to make the right connections (in the community) and become very active in a positive and tangible way,” he said.