[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 5130-5131]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            THE OCCASION OF THE RETIREMENT OF DR. ROY CHURCH

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MARCY KAPTUR

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 26, 2016

  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to my very dear 
friend, Dr. Roy Church. Dr. Church, who has faithfully and determinedly 
served our community as President of Lorain County Community College 
since 1987, recently announced he will retire June 30, 2016. Today, the 
community will honor him in a tribute to his remarkable tenure.
  Like many retirements, Dr. Church's will be a bittersweet one. For 
the past 29 years we have relied on his bold leadership, thoughtful 
vision and unquestioned commitment to higher education--and while 
professionally he will certainly be missed, Dr. Church's legacy and 
more so friendship will remain a part of the fabric of our community 
forever.
  Though Dr. Church refuses to take credit for much, his work ethic and 
sense of service began at an early age and was found in an unassuming 
place, far from academia. ``I milked cows morning and night for the 
first 18 years of my life'', Dr. Church once said. He was the youngest 
of six children growing up on a 230-acre dairy farm south of Syracuse, 
N.Y.
  He attended college not far from there, graduating from State 
University of New York at Cortland and it was here where Dr. Church 
began his 45 year commitment to higher education. Not long after Dr. 
Church received his Master's Degree in education from St. Joseph 
College of Florida, where he taught health

[[Page 5131]]

sciences, he was given opportunity to become the dean of students at 
only 25 years of age.
  Soon after pursuing a doctorate in higher education administration 
from Florida Atlantic University, Dr. Church's meteoric rise through 
the world of higher education continued. From dean of academic affairs 
at Broward Community College in Fort Lauderdale to vice president and 
chief academic officer of St. Petersburg College and eventually and 
thankfully landing him in Lorain County, Ohio as the fifth President of 
our community's college, in 1987.
  Back then, LCCC was a straight-forward, conventional community 
college of 5,000 students, offering associate degrees in basic 
coursework, in a few disciplines. Today, it is one of the top schools 
of its kind in the country and is a leader in innovation, 
entrepreneurship, and higher education. It didn't take long for Dr. 
Church to see the connection between a higher education and good jobs, 
understanding the need to not only prepare and train students for their 
future, but to also help foster entrepreneurship that create good-
paying jobs.
  It was through Dr. Church's vision and leadership that LCCC helped 
launch innovative and ground breaking initiatives such as the 
nationally recognized University Partnership Program, that provides 
four-year and graduate degree programs from local universities or Early 
College that allows for high school students to earn college credit.
  Other creative initiatives include the Innovation Alliance, an effort 
to improve access to science, technology, engineering and math degrees 
and GLIDE (the Great Lakes Innovation and Development Enterprise), the 
county's technology incubator, which to date has awarded more than $28 
million to 44 companies, the FabLab, an innovative ``makerspace'' and 
the SMART Center for Microsystems and sensor technology.
  Since Dr. Church's time at LCCC, its transformation is and has been 
ahead of its time. In President Obama's last visit to LCCC--he visited 
the college twice--he spoke of the need for community colleges to 
become community career centers, so people who are looking for a new 
job or a better-paying job can learn the skills that businesses need 
right now. That is what Dr. Church has done: he has helped create and 
lead one of the nation's premiere institutions, always with a root and 
focus on the student and academics, but mindful of its true role and 
responsibility. ``As the community's college, we serve all . . . 
students, companies, organizations, residents,'' Dr. Church once said. 
``We are a resource for the entire community.''
  It is difficult to estimate how many lives Dr. Church has touched--
how many single mothers relying on an affordable education to provide a 
better life for their children--how many laid-off steelworkers who were 
retrained to once again have an opportunity to work--how many companies 
and business startups that created new and good-paying jobs--how many 
first generation college students were given the opportunity to climb 
out of poverty?
  Mr. Speaker, it is my distinct honor and pleasure today, to pay 
tribute to a visionary leader and community partner, Dr. Roy Church, 
and join the tens of thousands who thank him for his service and 
commitment to our community.

                          ____________________