BRATTLEBORO — The Vermont State Colleges Board of Trustees will have a new chair for the first time in eight years.
At its May 22 meeting at Castleton State College, the board elected Brattleboro's Martha O'Connor to take the helm from outgoing chair Gary Moore of Bradford.
O'Connor is serving in her third six-year term on the VSC board. She was first appointed by Gov. Howard Dean in 1999 and was reappointed by Gov. Jim Douglas in 2005 and Gov. Peter Shumlin in 2011. She has chaired the board's Finance and Facilities Committee since 2006.
O'Connor has a long record of public service in Vermont. The UVM graduate first taught elementary school in Connecticut and Vermont and has served on the Executive Committee of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, the Brattleboro Selectboard, and the UVM Board of Trustees.
She also has chaired the State Board of Education, the Vermont School Boards Association, and the board of Brattleboro Union High School, and has presided at the Brattleboro Area Chamber of Commerce. She also is chair of the Vermont Lottery Commission.
Moreover, O'Connor serves on the Supreme Court Character and Fitness Committee, and Brattleboro Memorial Hospital's Development Committee.
“I'm thrilled to have Martha O'Connor elected to chair the VSC board,” said Tim Donovan, chancellor of Vermont State Colleges, in a prepared statement. “Martha is a committed public servant and skilled leader. I have great hope that, as chair, she can help turn the funding curve so these colleges can serve Vermont even better.”
“Martha O'Connor is eminently qualified to chair the VSC Board,” said Moore. “Very few have had as much experience chairing boards and commissions. She gets things done. Her dedication to the VSC and to those they serve has been demonstrated over and over. I have no doubt she will guide the VSC forward in these trying financial times.”
Moore did not seek reelection as chair and has announced that he will leave the VSC board when his term expires in March 2015.
Since his first appointment to the Board by Gov. Richard Snelling in 1991, Moore has served on the VSC Board of Trustees for 24 years, including as its chair since 2006. In March, the New England Board of Higher Education honored Moore with its David C. Knapp Award for Trusteeship.
The Vermont State College system is composed of five unique institutions: Community College of Vermont, Castleton State College, Johnson State College, Lyndon State College, and Vermont Technical College. With more than 25 locations across Vermont, the five colleges serve more than 12,000 students annually, of whom 83 percent are Vermonters.