Dr. John Squires
Cleveland State Community College has hired former Cleveland State faculty member Dr. John Squires to serve as the executive director of Institutional Research and Effectiveness.
Dr. Squires said, “Cleveland State has a lot of high-quality programs and initiatives, and I look forward to supporting them behind the scenes as part of the Institutional Research and Effectiveness team. I look forward to working with the college leadership, faculty, and staff to help Cleveland State serve the citizens in the region.”
The college’s Community First Plan (2015-2020) and Vision 2025 Plan (2020-2025) are the latest strategic plans launched in part with the guidance of Dr.
Bill Seymour, President of Cleveland State Community College. He said, “John most recently served as the Director of College and Career Readiness for the Southern Region Education Board (SREB) providing testing and assessment services to K-12 and higher education across the South and beyond. He brings an extremely broad set of skills and experience to this position and the college. He’s the right person for this very important office.”
The Institutional Research and Effectiveness office is responsible for external reporting, survey responses, maintenance of administrative databases including student enrollment, graduate inventory, academic program inventory, and responses to internal and external requests for college data. Among other duties, the unit is also responsible for maintaining performance funding processes and strategic planning reports.
Dr. Squires has a Ph.D. in Leadership from the University of the Cumberlands, a Master of Science in Mathematics from the University of Tennessee, a Master of Arts in Teaching from Drake University, and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Iowa State University.
He said of his first 19-year stint at the college, “I started my career at Cleveland State more than 30 years ago. After serving as the Mathematics Department Chair for both Cleveland State, and most recently, Chattanooga State, I am looking forward to serving in the research and effectiveness role. It’s a great fit for my background and experience.”
Dr. Squires helped both Cleveland State and Chattanooga State win national recognition by playing key roles in winning Bellwether Awards; honors bestowed annually to college programs deemed to be trendsetting, on the cutting-edge and worthy of replication. Squires and Cleveland State Dean of S.T.E.M. and Advanced Technologies, Karen Wyrick, were the masterminds behind the birth of the college’s Miller Family Smart Math Lab and earned a Bellwether Award in 2009.
The Interim executive director of Institutional Research and Effectiveness, Dr. Sonya Franklin, served in the role since the departure of David Knopp this fall term. Dr. Knopp first came aboard at Cleveland State joining as the Director of Institutional Research and Effectiveness in 2015. “Dr. Franklin has done an excellent job during the last couple of months ensuring we stay on top of the duties of that office,” added Dr. Seymour.