Dr. Marlon Mitchell takes on the region's educational challenges.
by Michael Puente
In 2005, Gary native Dr. Marlon Mitchell was a successful businessman and real estate developer in Albany, Georgia, about three hours south of Atlanta.
There, he built multiuse buildings and single-family homes while also undertaking historic restorations, along with project management consulting and leadership coaching and development. He also designed and developed an entire subdivision.
“Those buildings are still standing,” Dr. Mitchell says with a chuckle. “Very few people in real estate get to build a whole subdivision.”
Dr. Mitchell also purchased and opened a bed and breakfast, in what was once the home of Albany's mayor James Gray, a well-known segregationist who later dropped his opposition to Civil Rights. Gray, who was also a newspaper publisher and state Democratic chairman, died at the age of 70 in 1986.
Nevertheless, Dr. Mitchell decided to open a bed and breakfast in this house. On some days, Mitchell, who holds a doctorate in instructional systems technology from Indiana University, would do the cleaning, cooking and serving. “That's a part of me. I really love serving people,” Dr. Mitchell says. “That fulfillment can come in the area of recreation. I feel that's the reason I'm on this Earth.”
Besides being president of East Bank Development in Albany, Dr. Mitchell became dean of academic affairs at Atlanta Technical College in 2008.
But a year later, Dr. Mitchell's desire to serve others came to a head. He decided to return to his hometown of Gary to help care for aging grandparents. To make it happen, he took a position of director of information and instructional technology with the Gary Community School Corp. in 2009.
A year later, Dr. Mitchell was named regional dean for Indiana Wesleyan University. The university's expansion plans envisioned having Dr. Mitchell moving to Ohio, which prompted him to instead sign on in January as vice chancellor and campus president for Ivy Tech Community College's Northwest Region campus in Gary.
“Dr. Mitchell will be like a CEO for the Gary campus, overseeing operations and acting as the college's face in the community,” Ivy Tech spokesman Jeff Fanter said in a statement in January. Mitchell reports directly to Chancellor Thomas Coley, who oversees the Northwest region and the North Central region for Ivy Tech Community College.
Dr. Mitchell says he has several goals for the campus in his new role, but of primary concern is student morale. “I want to restore the morale of the students at the Gary campus and to grow programs through innovation initiatives, such as looking at new programming that will prepare our students for the 21st Century and global society,” Dr. Mitchell says.
Dr. Mitchell wants to enhance or expand on the two-year college's offerings in programs such as advanced manufacturing, forensic homeland security, health care, innovation, technology and aviation.
But another key goal for the next year, Dr. Mitchell says, is restoring and renewing relationships between Ivy Tech and the business community.
Dr. Mitchell says this is critical so that the college knows what programs and skills to introduce–such as courses that take advantage of the growing green industry, perhaps helping to build today's modern windmills.
“I would like to see closer partnerships and programs in the area of advanced manufacturing,” Dr. Mitchell says. “We already have a number of programs in green technology and alternative energies right here in Gary. But we hope to bring more of those programs to Gary, such as turbine engine technician, so that they will be able to work on the windmills.”
Dr. Mitchell says introducing newer programs is dependent on cooperation with companies. It's critical that they make commitments to setting up shop in Northwest Indiana so the college can commit to teaching such programs.
“It takes a little time to wrap those programs up, but the only way that we're about to bring a program is if we can show that we can sustain a program. One way of sustaining a program is building partnerships with those corporations to have some type of guarantee that they will come,” Dr. Mitchell says.
But establishing cooperation is easier said than done. “It's almost like what comes first, the chicken or the egg? You need both of them to work. It's very difficult for us to establish a program if the industry is not here or we know that they are not coming here,” Dr. Mitchell says. “But if we know that the industry is coming and we have some commitment that it will happen, then it's easier for us to establish a program so that we can begin to educate and build a workforce that will be able to fill those jobs of that new industry.”
It would have been easy for Dr. Mitchell to stay in business and industry, but education, he says, allows him to live out his philosophy of giving service to others.
“I have a heart for people. It's very difficult to give service to others when you're in a technical or business field like IT, like I was in. There's not a lot of human interaction,” Dr. Mitchell says. “But I like to share the gifts and talents that I've been given with others, and the best place, I felt, is in higher education or in education in general. Where I really built my career is in education both as a professor and administrator.”
Beyond Ivy Tech, Dr. Mitchell continues to serve in other capacities.
He's president of Hurtsburo Consulting Group of Northwest Indiana and Chicago, while serving as an executive coach with the John Maxwell Team. He is the current chair of the Economic Development Committee with the Gary Chamber of Commerce. He also serves on the board of directors for Lake Area United Way and Urban League of Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties.
But Dr. Mitchell hasn't ended his work with the Gary schools. He serves on the planning committee for Dr. Cheryl L. Pruitt, superintendent of Gary Community School Corp. A graduate of Roosevelt High School in Gary, Dr. Mitchell understand the struggles the district is going through and hopes to play a role in its recovery.
In March, the Indiana Department of Education announced plans to partner with Gary schools to help them better manage federal dollars that come into the district and to help turn around many of its struggling schools.
“The Gary schools are in a prime opportunity for success. It's not unlike someone who falls on hard times. When the person wants to change, that's the perfect opportunity to give them the resources to change. I think Gary is in the situation right now that they want to change, but to change on their own is difficult because they don't have the resources,” Dr. Mitchell says.
“I think that this partnership with the DOE will come with the resources that they need and they want to make. I believe the Gary school corporation will return to being one of the better school corporations as they were once in the past. I am hopeful that the partnership will lead to the citizens here in Gary having a much greater opportunity to participate in the education and workforce arena.”
