TCC President Tom McKeon Announces Retirement

Thomas K. McKeon, Ed.D, only the third president in the history of Tulsa Community College, announced today he will retire effective July 1, 2014.

McKeon was named President in July 2004 and will have served as President 10 years upon his effective retirement as a 33-year employee of Tulsa Community College. Beginning his career in higher education at then Tulsa Junior College, McKeon served as an instructor and later went on to fill numerous administrative roles with the College, including dean of instruction, provost of two campuses, and the role of executive vice president and chief operating officer, before being named President following Dean P. VanTrease, Ph.D.

McKeon led many of the College’s significant administrative and process improvements with a strong focus on community wide access and academic excellence for students. Today the College has more than 28,000 students enrolled in credit classes annually compared to 2,796 students when the College opened in 1970.In May, TCC had the largest number of graduates in its 43-year history. Today TCC offers more online degrees and enrolls more concurrent students than any college or university in the state.

McKeon led the creation of the nationally recognized Tulsa Achieves program which has resulted in the admission of more than 10,000 students in seven years without the cost of tuition and fees. His leadership as President included the introduction of the Attend College Early program which preceded Tulsa Achieves and was adopted statewide by Gov. Brad Henry for high school students attending college concurrently in Oklahoma.

“Dr. McKeon has left an imprint on TCC that will serve us for decades to come. His commitment to the community college mission of full access to higher education for everyone is exceeded only by his ability to lead TCC with collaboration and shared administrative engagement at all levels of our College and the community,” said Ron Looney, chair of the TCC Board of Regents.

During his term as President, McKeon led;

·a college wide energy audit that saves the college more than $1 million annually in energy costs;

·the creation and construction of the Metro Campus Center for Creativity designed to embrace rapid changes in curriculum delivery and merge a variety of academic disciplines to prepare students for the digital environment;

·the introduction of the national model Achieving the Dream for increasing success rates for students, particularly first generation college students, which later resulted in a college wide skills course required for both Tulsa Achieves and developmental students significantly boosting grade point average and retention;

·the addition of Community Campuses in Glenpool and Owasso as well as the creation of the TCC Education Outreach Center in east Tulsa, considered a national model for Hispanic and minority education inclusion and outreach;

·the significant growth of assets for the TCC Foundation and funding for the Health Sciences and Biotechnology Learning Center and the recently completed campaign for the Nate Waters Physical Therapy Clinic as a teaching laboratory and service provider for the community;

·the introduction of concurrent and dual enrollment classes on high school campuses in and surrounding Tulsa; and,

·the establishment of higher education programs in Conner and Turley correctional facilities offering certificate and associate degree curriculum on-site and resulting in significantly reduced recidivism for those offenders who participated and later left the prison.

Presently, he represents other college and universities in Oklahoma following appointment by Chancellor Glen Johnson to the Oklahoma Complete College America planning team to encourage greater college attainment and graduation success.

McKeon has a Bachelor of Science degree from California Polytechnical State University and a Master of Science degree and Doctorate from Oklahoma State University. In 2007, McKeon was inducted into the OSU College of Education Hall of Fame. He was selected by Tulsa People magazine as Tulsan of the Year. Tulsa People also chose McKeon as one of the “25 Tulsans Who Shaped Our City Over the Last 25 Years”. He received the Paragon Award from Leadership Tulsa.

As a community leader in collaboration and engagement, McKeon is on the Tulsa Regional Chamber Board and the Governor’s Council on Workforce and Economic Development. Other current board roles include the Oklahoma Center for Community and Justice and the Oklahoma Innovation Institute. He has served as president of the boards of directors for Leadership Tulsa, Oklahoma Council of Presidents, Oklahoma Council of Two-year College Presidents, Oklahoma Academy for State Goals, North Texas Consortium of Community Colleges, and Street School. In addition, he has served on the boards of numerous organizations including Bishop Kelley High School, Community Service Council, Tulsa Community Foundation and the Tulsa Area United Way.

TCC is the third largest college or university in the state and the largest community college and ranks in the top 2 percent nationally its number of annual graduates. It’s faculty to student ratio is 1:20 and it has more than 300 full-time faculty, more than 780 part-time faculty and 660 full-time employees. It offers 154 individual associate degree programs and 74 credit-bearing certificate programs. McKeon will reside in Tulsa upon retirement with his wife Stacey. Together they have two children in the Tulsa area Carly and Tyler and daughter-in-law Molly.