Chesapeake College President Dr. Clifford P. Coppersmith today announced that Cambridge resident Amber Tolley McGinnis will serve as Interim Director of the Cambridge Center effective August 16.
A college faculty member since 2008, McGinnis is an Assistant Professor of Communications and has been the Honors Program Director since 2015.
“As a community resident, Amber has a great appreciation for all that Dorchester County offers to its citizens and employers,” said Dr. Coppersmith. “With her strong communications background, she understands the importance of offering classes that meet the community’s needs and how to best market those programs to prospective students.”
He added that McGinnis’s tenure with the college, understanding of the school’s dual enrollment and credit programs, familiarity with faculty and staff, and knowledge of Dorchester County made her particularly well suited for this year-long appointment.
As Interim Director, McGinnis will facilitate a strategic planning process to address educational and workforce development pathways that are central to Dorchester’s economy including manufacturing, healthcare, tourism, and agriculture. She will also oversee plans for the Cambridge Center’s 40th anniversary in 2019.
A popular and well-regarded faculty member, McGinnis was awarded Chesapeake’s 2018-2020 Stuart M. Bounds Distinguished Teaching Chair for innovation in teaching and learning.
“I want to establish relationships critical to the Cambridge Center’s success and anticipate working closely with local educators, residents and the business community to strengthen the campus’ role as a center of both credit and workforce development partnerships,” McGinnis said. “I look forward to working on the strategic plan to help identify and build programs, partnerships and internships that strengthen our role and relationships.”
McGinnis, a member of the National Collegiate Honors Council, said she will continue to oversee the college’s Honors Program from Cambridge and plans to teach one section of Communications 101(Fundamentals of Oral and Organizational Communications) at the Cambridge Center during the fall and spring semesters.
McGinnis is a graduate of Cambridge-South Dorchester High School, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications from Towson University and a Masters of Arts in Publications Design from the University of Baltimore.
A Dorchester County native, McGinnis is married and has two children.
Prior to her tenure at Chesapeake, she was employed for seven years by Erickson Retirement Communities in Baltimore in a variety of positions culminating as Director of Advertising where she oversaw a $10 million strategic marketing and communications budget.
About Chesapeake College
Founded in 1965 as Maryland’s first regional community college, Chesapeake serves five Eastern Shore counties – Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot. With more than 130,000 alumnae, Chesapeake has 2,300 students and almost 10,000 people enrolled in continuing education programs.
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