Gateway President/CEO Elected to American Association of Community Colleges Board of Directors

G. Edward Hughes, president/CEO of Gateway Community & Technical College, has been elected to the board of directors of the American Association of Community Colleges for a three-year term beginning in July.

"It is an honor to be elected by my peers across the country to the AACC Board, Dr. Hughes said. This is a critical time for the AACC board, especially as we hire and begin working with a new association president. The acclaim and emphasis President Obama's administration and the Congress have given community and technical colleges is gratifying. I look forward to helping shape the future direction of the community college movement in the world as a member of the board."

Dr. Hughes is one of six new board members elected from a field of 11 candidates in the institutional representative category. Directors are elected by the presidents/CEOs of AACC member institutions.

This is the third time the Gateway president has been elected to a national board or committee of the AACC, which is known as the collective voice of the nations 1,200 community colleges. He was elected to the Presidents Academy Executive Committee in 2000 and as chair of that group for a two-year term in 2004-05.

Based in Washington, D.C., the AACC is the primary advocacy organization for community colleges at the national level and works closely with directors of state offices to inform and affect state policy.

In addition to previous elective office, Dr. Hughes served as a member of the AACC Executive Committee from 2000-2006. He has also served as a member of the AACC Commission for Workforce Development, Commission on Global Studies and as founding board member of the Rural Community College Alliance.

A native of Gettysburg, Pa., Dr. Hughes is Gateway's founding president/CEO. Before joining Gateway, he served as president of Hazard Community College from 1985 to 2001. He is past president of the Community Colleges of Appalachia (2000-01) and the Southern Association of Community, Junior, and Technical Colleges (2001-02). He has received numerous awards for his leadership in education and civic involvement, including the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2005 from Catawba College and most recently the Unity Award from the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce (2009). He was the founding chair of The Challenger Learning Center of Kentucky in Hazard, is the founding chair of The Life Learning Center in Covington, led the Northern Kentucky United Way campaign in 2003 and co-chaired the Northern Kentucky Fine Arts Fund Campaign in 2009. He also served as president of the Kentucky Symphony board in 2009.

His previous education experience includes faculty and administrative positions at Mississippi County Community College in Arkansas, Jackson State Community College in Tennessee, Southern Illinois University, and the North Country Community College in New York. Dr. Hughes earned bachelors and masters degrees in psychology from Catawba College and Middle Tennessee State University, respectively, and a Ph.D. in higher education from Southern Illinois University.