Maryland
Moore names new Higher Education Commission secretary, last Cabinet pick – Maryland Matters
Gov. Wes Moore (D) on Wednesday introduced that he has chosen Sanjay Rai to function appearing secretary for the Maryland Increased Schooling Fee.
It’s the last Cupboard-level place to be stuffed within the new administration.
Rai, senior vice chairman for educational affairs at Montgomery Faculty, would should be confirmed by the state Senate when the Basic Meeting reconvenes subsequent January earlier than shedding the “appearing” a part of his title.
“Dr. Rai brings greater than 30 years of profession expertise and devoted dedication to innovation, entry, and management in larger schooling,” Moore mentioned in a press release. “The Maryland Increased Schooling Fee is important to creating success for Maryland’s college students and I stay up for the transformative partnerships Dr. Rai will forge to construct pathways to work, wages and wealth.”
The Maryland Increased Schooling Fee is the state’s larger schooling regulatory and coordinating board, accountable for establishing statewide insurance policies for Maryland private and non-private faculties and universities, in addition to for for-profit profession colleges. It’s ruled by a 12-member fee whose members are nominated by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate.
Rai’s profession with Montgomery Faculty dates again nearly 20 years: He began as tutorial dean for science, engineering and arithmetic on the group faculty’s Rockville campus in 2004, moved on to grow to be vice chairman and provost on the Germantown campus in 2009, and assumed his current place in November 2013.
“Dr. Rai’s {qualifications} and accomplishments make him uniquely located to help Gov. Moore’s imaginative and prescient for advancing larger schooling in Maryland,” mentioned Montgomery Faculty President Jermaine F. Williams. “His accomplishments whereas at Montgomery Faculty have benefitted hundreds of scholars, bolstered the Faculty’s educational applications, and cast precious collaborations with group, business, and authorities. His dedication to fairness, innovation, and educational excellence has made a really actual distinction for all of us at Montgomery Faculty.”
Rai’s educational profession contains stints as chair of the Division of Arithmetic at Jacksonville College in Florida, and as an affiliate professor within the Division of Pure Sciences at Texas A&M Worldwide College in Laredo. He has a Ph.D. in arithmetic from the College of Arkansas, masters levels from educational establishments in Canada and India, and a BS in statistics, physics and arithmetic from the College of Allahabad in India.
In a press release, the Moore administration mentioned that Rai “has persistently and vigorously superior improvements that bolster scholar success in educational, profession, technical, and workforce growth applications all through his profession. He has labored to take away boundaries to schooling entry by means of the redesign of developmental schooling, revision of alternate placement insurance policies, and embedding of coaches in school rooms to extend scholar success.”
The administration additionally mentioned that Rai’s group faculty background particularly places him in contact with the educational and workforce wants of scholars.
“That is an historic alternative to construct upon a powerful larger schooling system of group faculties, the College of Maryland System, and personal faculties,” Rai mentioned. “We should create an inclusive larger schooling ecosystem that gives significant and inexpensive entry to larger schooling and workforce coaching to all residents within the state. We are going to be sure that house grown expertise mixed with analysis developments will make Maryland a major vacation spot for employers across the nation and the world for relocating, beginning and increasing their companies.”
Rai is predicted to start out his job with the state in Could. He’ll exchange James D. Fielder Jr., a veteran authorities hand who served as secretary of Increased Schooling Fee for many of Republican Gov. Larry Hogan’s tenure and left workplace in January.