Evon Walters

He is an entrepreneurial leader who brings a demonstrated track record of success in the institutional areas of student retention, academic program expansion, enrollment management and strategic planning. His diverse professional background has led him in providing leadership within the private, public, small and large educational multi-campus systems. Over the past decade, he has been able to creatively leverage the innovative use of technology in expanding and enhancing the quality of academic and student support services at the institutions where he has served.

Dr. Walters also teaches within the graduate Higher education program at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, NY. He teaches “Survey of Higher Education Administration”.

Dr. Evon Walters has filled his educational and administrative history full to the brim with a wide and impressive variety of career positions, organizational memberships, community outreach work, educational research, and publishing projects. .

Education

Evon Walters attended the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he received three degrees. His first was a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Health Care Administration. During his undergraduate years he lettered in track and field. This was followed by a Master’s of Education degree in Staff Development in Higher Education. Finally, Walters received a Doctorate of Education degree in Higher Education Administration.

While pursuing these degrees, Walters joined and was inducted into two different Greek Letter organizations. The Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity was America’s first intercollegiate Greek-lettered fraternity for African Americans. Today they focus on training the next generation of the nation’s leaders and promoting brotherhood throughout their community. Phi Delta Kappa, meanwhile, is an international honors society that supports education as a cornerstone of democracy. They do this through cultivation of their members into excellent educational resources for future students.

Work Experience

Evon Walters began his long and prestigious career at his alma mater of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, as a Research and Teaching Assistant under the Public Safety and Education departments. In addition to conducting and completing his dissertation research, he was involved coordinating sensitivity and awareness programs for police officers and other security personnel stationed at the University. He also taught an assortment of graduate courses in the Education department. Walters worked in this capacity until 1993 when graduated with his doctorate degree.

Walters joined Clark University in nearby Worcester, MA. Here he was the Dean of Multicultural Affairs from 1993 to 1997. In this capacity, he was responsible for academic and co-curricular support for the institution’s minority and international students. He was also a part of the career services team responsible for providing programs and services to the undergraduate student body. .

In May of 1997, Dr. Walters left Clark University for Olivet College in Olivet, MI. Here he served as an Assistant Professor of Education and eventually as Chair of the Department. During his tenure at Olivet College, the institution was involved in a national project that was co-sponsored by the Kellogg Foundation and the American Council on Education (ACE). This national initiative which was centered on curriculum transformation, witnessed him playing an integral role in a faculty driven process that transformed the general education curriculum into a more pedagogically dynamic and globalized one. His efforts led him in representing the institution in various national and international conferences where he would present findings from the work done by the college. He eventually was recognized by his faculty peers and the senior administration in receiving the distinguished faculty award for scholarship.


During his tenure at Olivet, Walters also spearheaded institutional efforts in establishing student study abroad and faculty exchange and research opportunities in the Caribbean. One significant accomplishment during this effort was him successfully securing significant scholarship funding for international students and the opening of an International Education office.

After his time at Olivet College, Walters joined Onondaga Community College in Syracuse, NY at the beginning of 2001 as the Vice President for Student Services. His supervisory responsibilities included the following:


• Student Life
• Student Support Services
• International Student Support Services
• Student Enrollment Services
• Students with Special Needs
• Admissions
• Advisement and Assessment
• Registrar’s Office
• Veterans Office
• Health Services
• Athletics
• And More

At Onondaga, Walters’s administrative tenure was highlighted by a series of innovative initiatives that would serve to advance the institution’s strategic goals, as well as establishing the foundation for the development of a strategic enrollment management plan. In addition to leading the strategic reengineering of the enrollment process, he simultaneously expanded external relationships with the local community based organizations and k-12 communities. In responding to one of the more compelling external challenges of increased student enrollment, Walters established an International Student Support Office and conducted a housing feasibility study that led to the launching and construction of student dormitories. The process that was used in creating a centralized One Stop Center was highlighted in the peer review journal, the Community College Review.

In June of 2004, Evon Walters left Onondaga Community College for Montgomery County Community College, where he became the Vice President of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management. Under his leadership, the College increased its enrollment and the Divison played a central role in aggressively attacking the issue of student retention. Among his accomplishments there, Dr. Walters conceptualized, facilitated and ultimately constructed a state of the art Student Success Center and a data driven Call Center that led to heightened levels of student engagement and support. During his tenure he also played a central role in two national initiatives that the College was involved with; the John Gardner Foundations of Excellence Study and the Lumina Foundation sponsored “Achieving the Dream” initiative.

In 2007, Walters joined Suffolk County Community College in Long Island, NY as the Executive Dean and Campus CEO of the College’s Eastern Campus. There he led campus efforts in advanced technology, student success, academic program and aggressive recruiting outreach to the k-12 community.

Organizational Membership

Dr. Evon Walters is involved with a large number of different organizations, many of them in service to his community or to the institution of higher education as a whole.

For example, Dr. Walters serves as a board member on the Riverhead Chamber of Commerce in the township of Riverhead, NY, where Suffolk Community College is located. With this position, Dr. Walters helps advance the interests of the College’s surrounding areas, including commercial, civic, industrial, and other general interests. In the past, Dr. Walters has also served as a member of these other community and civic organizations:

• The Jamaican Council of Community Colleges, 1998 – 2000
• The Michigan Dept. of Education’s Curriculum Framework/Connecting with the Learner, 1998 - 2000
• The Syracuse Community Wide Dialogue Circle, 2001 – 2003
• The Leadership of Greater Syracuse Organization, 2002 – 2003
• The Child Care Council of Onondaga County, 2002 – 2003
• The Eastern Long Island Executives, 2007-2008

Dr. Evon Walters accepted an invitation to join the prestigious John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education as a Task Force Advisor to Community Colleges. This organization as a mission looks to improve the persistence, completion rate, and the overall learning of higher students in the United States.

Dr. Walters has also done work with several different college partnership and outreach projects in the past, including the following:

• The United Nations Initiative with 30 Caribbean and South American nations. At the invitation, he led a contingent that presented to these countries exploring educational partnerships. 1997 – 1998
• The Jamaican Council of Community Colleges, 1998-2000

Research and Publications

Dr. Walters’s passion for the field has been reflected in research conducted in the areas of student retention, enrollment management, institutional diversity and strategic planning. His research has seen publication in a variety of national, peer-reviewed scholarly journals, including the following selections:


• The Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice
• Strategic Enrollment Management Source
• The Student Affairs Journal
• Community College Review
• Excellence and Equity in Education
• Community College Week
• About Campus: Enriching the Student Learning Experience
• Trustee Quarterly
• And More


Dr. Walter’s research began, however, back in 1990 during his time as a Research Assistant with the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. There he conducted a qualitative case study that examined the relationship of African American and Latino students with the campus police department. This research was in response to the infamous 1986 New York Mets and Boston Red Sox baseball World Series, where there was student unrest on the campus. The thesis was entitled A New Approach in the Enhancement of Student-Law Enforcement Relations on College Campuses.

Awards
Dr. Walters ‘s awards include the Faculty Riethmiller Award, Excellence in Scholarship from Olivet College; Fellow of the American Council on Education in 1993 and the Suffolk County, Dr. Martin Luther King award for Public Service.

Dr. Evon Walters has been working with Suffolk County Community College for almost six years. He also teaches within the graduate program at Stony Brook University’s Higher Education program. The course, “Foundations of Higher Education Administration” looks to provide graduate students with a general understanding of a historical and contemporary overview of the evolution of American Higher Education.

One significant area that is connected with the broader challenge of meeting the national goal of being the preeminent country with the highest number and percentage of college graduates is effective teaching and learning. To that end Dr. Walters serves on the editorial board of the International Higher Education Teaching and Learning (HETL) organization was recently appointed to serve on their board of Directors.