Montgomery County Community College (MCCC) President Dr. Karen A. Stout was selected to serve as a co-chair of the American Association of Community College’s (AACC) 21st-Century Initiative Steering Committee. 

In this role, she will work with a steering committee of college presidents and community college leaders from across the country will oversee implementation teams that are charged with developing strategies for two-year colleges to integrate recommendations from AACC’s recent 21st Century Commission report, Reclaiming the American Dream: Community Colleges and the Nation’s Future. The full report is available online at www.aacc.nche.edu/aboutcc/21stcenturyreport/index.html.

Released in April, the national report includes seven recommendations that will help community colleges position themselves to best serve the needs of current and future students. The recommendations are grounded in what the AACC calls the “Three R’s” of redesign, reset and reinvent. Examples include increasing completion rates, improving college readiness, closing the American skills gap by focusing on career and technical education, and implementing policies that promote rigor and accountability, among others. 

A passionate advocate for community colleges, Dr. Stout also serves as Chair of the President’s Advisory Board to the Community College Research Center at Columbia University Teacher’s College, is a member of the American Association of Community Colleges Board of Directors, and is a Commissioner with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

Since 2001, she has led Montgomery County Community College with visionary thinking, strategic planning and student success at the heart of her work. Under her presidency, MCCC is recognized nationally for its work in student success as an Achieving the Dream Leader College, and it consistently earns national recognition for its use of data informed decision making to impact student learning outcomes.  

Dr. Stout holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of Delaware, a master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Baltimore and a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Delaware.