MnSCU Board names Thomas Davis as Interim President of Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College

Posted: January 17, 2002

Contact: Doug Anderson, doug.anderson@MinnState.edu, 651-201-1426

The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board of Trustees, acting on a recommendation by Chancellor James H. McCormick, today appointed Thomas Davis as interim president of Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College. Davis, the college's associate dean of instruction, replaces former President Jack Briggs, who died Dec. 16.

"Thomas Davis has a broad background in American Indian tribal education, and I am confident his experiences make him the right person to assume the position of interim president at this unique college," Chancellor McCormick said.

The college is the only co-governed tribal college and state community college in the nation, and Briggs helped found the college and became its first president in 1989.

After Briggs' death, the chancellor asked Larry Anderson, the college's vice president of administration and student services, to serve as acting president until the board could meet and name an interim president.

As interim president, Davis will lead the college while a search for a permanent replacement is conducted. Under a policy of the Board of Trustees, interim presidents are not eligible to be considered for appointment to the permanent position.

Davis has been associate dean of instruction since 2000 and was administrator of tribal college planning from 1998-2000. Prior to that, he served as director of asynchronous education at Bay Mills Community College for two years, dean of outreach and development at the College of the Menominee Nation from 1995-1997 and as its vice president of academic affairs from 1992-1995. He has held economic development management positions for the Menominee Indian Tribe and several organizations and was a teacher at the Menominee Community School.

Davis holds a bachelor's degree in English, history and education from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and a master's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay in environmental science and policy.

Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College had a headcount enrollment of 1,012 students in fall 2001 and a projected full-time-equivalent enrollment of 610 students.