Mordecai Ian Brownlee

President

Dr. Brownlee is an inclusive educator who is committed to the intellectual and economic empowerment of diverse communities. Proudly serving as the sixth president of CCA, Dr. Mordecai provides our institution impressive leadership and experience with advancing equitable student success, improving student advocacy and support services, and expanding academic pathways. Within the first two years of his presidency, President Brownlee has already brought about significant change and improved the student success agenda at the Community College of Aurora. These successes include CCA embarking upon its first capital project in 24 years, record-breaking capital and scholarship fundraising, the hiring of CCA’s largest and most diverse faculty ranks in the college’s history, improved student completions by more than 20%, and CCA becoming the first Achieving the Dream institution in the State of Colorado.

Dr. Mordecai publishes frequently, including serving as a columnist for EdSurge. He also teaches for Lamar University within the College of Education and Human Development and serves as an international keynote speaker. Dr. Mordecai has been featured on several local, state, and national platforms including the American Association of Community Colleges Community College Journal, NASPA Leadership Exchange, EdUp Experience, EdTech Magazine, and Colorado Sentinel. In 2023, Dr. Mordecai was named 40 Under 40 by the prestigious Denver Business Journal and the Community Leader of the Year by the Aurora Chamber of Commerce. In 2022, he was featured by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education Magazine as a “New School” leader representing the next generation of college presidents.

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Recent Articles by Dr. Brownlee:

Embracing Change: Crafting Forward-Thinking Strategic Plans for Colleges in a Dynamic Society

College presidents, now is the time to lead your college through developing a post-pandemic institutional strategic plan if you have not done so.

A stronger Colorado requires stronger workforce pathways through collaboration between educational institutions

According to the Colorado Department of Higher Education’s most recent “Access and Success for Colorado’s High School Graduates” report, just under 50% of high school graduates attended an institution of higher education in the fall after graduation.

Colleges Must Respond to America’s Skill-Based Economy

To address our children’s hunger and our communities’ poverty, our educational system must be redesigned to remove the boundaries between high school, college and careers so that more Americans can train for and secure employment that will sustain them.

What Student Loan Debt Means For The American Dream

Our nation is grappling with a philosophical decision regarding whether the country is responsible for its own student debt crisis. Or, if student debt is a matter of personal choice, as described in 2022 by Jason Wingard.

We Deleted More Than 5,000 Pages From Our College Website. Here’s Why.

For far too long, college and university websites have been designed with the assumption that published information is accessible information. This is not true.

The Power of Microcredentials and America’s Higher Education Dilemma

This semester, the Community College of Aurora rolled out the first microcredentials in its history. These short courses offer students the opportunity to study behavioral health, which aligns with jobs in our region related to human services, sociology, counseling, psychology and social work.

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