VP candidate has high hopes for Delta

Delta College is seeking someone to take the Vice President role for the Instruction and Learning Services. Reva Curry is one of the four candidates who is currently in the running for a chance to join Delta.

Curry is currently the Executive Director of Stockton Center for Community Engagement, the Executive Director of Community Partnerships and an Interim Health Sciences Dean, all of which are positions at Richard Stockton College in Galloway, N.J.

Additionally, Curry has received a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania as well as a M.Ed. at Augusta College (Georgia Regents University) in Augusta, Ga.

As Curry began, she discussed the question: ”What is diversity?” Her answer was full inclusion.

“If I was to say what that means to me,” she said, “it means being invited to Thanksgiving dinner and you get to sit at the big table.”

Curry clarified that full inclusion was about becoming an active person as well as a person who partakes in discussion.

“You get to participate in conversation,” she said. “Not just listening—but when you speak, others will listen and they will react to what you are saying.”

Curry then discussed her ‘completion agenda’ that she would use upon being elected. The proposed agenda contained three counterparts: ‘Examine Retention’, ‘Examine Recruitment’ and ‘Conduct Feasibility Studies’.

In the ‘Examine Retention’ section, Curry identified that only one-fourth of high school graduates actually qualify for college course levels.

“Instead of putting (the best educators) at the end, we need to put them back at the beginning,” she explained. “If you put the best in Kindergarten, first-, second- and third-grade, then you can almost eliminate the need for development in educational math.”

As Curry discussed the ‘Examine Recruitment’ section, she focused on specific matters Delta College has that she is motivated to increase, including college completion and increased credit hours.

“(These two items) are defensive in nature,” she said. “It is a strengthening of what Delta’s already doing to address not only the completion agenda, but also increasing Delta credit hours, which is a primary concern for me.”12