Following a year as vice chancellor of Metropolitan Community College of Kansas City, Mark James was appointed chancellor of the large multi-campus College by a six-person board of trustees in 2010. Responsible for strategic planning and implementing policies to advance the College and serve the mission, he launched initiatives that heightened campus safety and security with a full-service campus police department, he elevated the school’s community awareness through a strategic business and industry partnerships, and focused on innovative programs to help traditional and non-traditional students succeed.
In the first year as Chancellor, the nation was experiencing the Great Recession which directly impacted MCC. The College was in danger of exhausting cash reserves by 2015 and undergoing unprecedented financial challenges. Chancellor Mark James successfully directed MCC to financial stability by instituting zero-based budgeting, restructuring debt and benefit options, and streamlining operations to eliminate unnecessary redundancies on all five campuses, while not laying off employees. James transformed MCC into one that was most recently commended by the Higher Learning Commission for its strong financial profile.
The recipient of a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and administration, Mark James began his career as a trooper with the Missouri State Highway Patrol in 1978 and later held positions such as undercover narcotics investigator and supervisor of its intelligence unit. In 1987, Mr. James joined the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and served in a variety of capacities for 20 years in Kansas City, Omaha, and Washington, D.C.
In 2005, Gov. Matt Blunt appointed Mark James state homeland security advisor and director of the Missouri Department of Public Safety. In this role held until 2009, he oversaw agencies such as the Missouri National Guard, the Division of Fire Safety, and the State Emergency Management Agency and acted as incident commander for 20 president-declared disasters in the state. While serving in that role, following the shootings at Virginia Tech University in April 2007, he was named to co-chair a task force along with Robert Stein, the commissioner of the Department of Higher Education, to look into how to bolster security in the state’s colleges and universities. The resulting report was adopted by most of the state’s colleges as a way to add security and respond to active shooters. The report is still viewed as a national model to approach safety and security on college campuses.
It was that appointment and report that urged James to enter the education sphere. He says when the calendar hits May each year, he’s glad he chose education. That’s when he gets to witness nearly 1,000 students from the MCC’s five campuses, cross the stage at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City to receive their diplomas.
Mark James 