SCCC president gets six-year contract extension

Schenectady County Community College President Steady Moono scored a six-year contract extension Monday night, after the Board of Trustees agreed to keep him on through June 2023.

Moono recently finished his second school year at the college’s helm. He has emphasized the importance of access to college, community partnerships and student and staff relationships.

School officials did not provide a copy of the new contract as of 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Under Moono’s leadership, SCCC has focused on its strengths in hospitality, expanding and launching programs in casino management and gaming, as well as in craft brewing.

The school has also established new transfer agreements — and strengthened established agreements — with four-year schools, including one signed this week that opens the doors to 46 degree programs at University at Albany.

The school has also established a mentorship program that Moono said he would like to expand to all students in the next three of four years. This fall it will serve between 150 and 200 students, Moono said.

The mentorship program, and increased attention to student advising, underscore Moono’s chief message: the college needs to help all students not only access higher education but also earn their degrees.

“There is nothing more important in the life of a community college than to ensure students that come to us with aspirations and dreams leave college with what they came to attain,” he said.

Growing up as a “peasant” in Zambia — Moono has said his SCCC office is much larger than his childhood home — Moono has emphasized the role higher education played in lifting him from poverty.

In written statements Tuesday, SCCC trustees praised Moono’s leadership.

“Dr. Moono has transformed the college and prepared us for life in the 21st century,” said Ann Fleming Brown, chair of the SCCC board, in a written statement Tuesday. 

There is still much work to be done though. Moono said the school will be rolling out a major capital campaign soon to coincide with the college’s 50th anniversary, funding that would support renovations as well as scholarships. He did not say much money the campaign might seek to raise.

And enrollment levels may become a key metric in the coming years as college leaders look to stanch recent declines. The college’s overall student head count fell 10 percent at the start of the 2016-2017 school year. Officials dismissed the drop as a “correction” from inflated highs during the recession and said they expected enrollment to “flatten out” next year. If enrollment doesn’t flatten out that would be “dangerous” Moono said in the fall.

His two-year tenure has not been without its rough patches too. 

In May, Moono partially distracted from the school’s commencement after he was arrested by state police in Duanesburg. He registered a blood alcohol level just above the legal limit and later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of driving while ability impaired.

His court appearance came the day before the commencement ceremony, at which Moono apologized directly to students.

“I apologize to you graduates; for you, this has served as a distraction on your day of accomplishment,” he told graduates. “That saddens me more than any personal punishment.” 

Board members stood behind Moono at the time of the incident.

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