Professor promoted at MCC
Brian Sager recently traded a classroom for an office and a student grade book for a weekly meeting planner in his new role as interim vice president for Learning and Student Support Services at McHenry County College.
Sager said his primary task is to work with the administration, faculty and staff to ensure the college continues to offer quality educational opportunities for students and district residents.
He said his second priority is to work with faculty and staff to position the college for the future by coordinating a review of the academic organizational structure.
"In recognition of the fact that the college is going through an employee migration over the next one and a half years, I plan to work with colleagues to ensure that we are well positioned to meet today's, as well as future, educational programming needs," Sager said.
"We are probably in the most unique position the college has had since the founding fathers initially established the institution," Sager said, referring to the significant employee attrition rate due to retirements.
"We have the opportunity to impact this college and its educational programming for the next 40 to 50 years," he said. "I am honored to find myself in the position of working with the institution and external communities to mold that opportunity. It is a big challenge, but one that I find extremely exciting."
Prior to serving as interim vice president, Sager served as instructor of animal and plant science and economics since 1990. He succeeds Jim Gray, Ed.D., who retired in December. Sager also served as faculty association president for the last eight years and was recognized as one of MCC's Outstanding Faculty Members.
Sager earned his Ph.D. in international development from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and his master of arts degree in instructional strategies from Rockford College. He also earned bachelor of science and master of science degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign.
Off campus, he serves as mayor for the city of Woodstock and is currently serving a two-year term as president of the McHenry County Council of Governments.
Due to his interest and expertise in international development, Sager continually is in demand for overseas development projects for the U.S. Agency for International Development.
To date, he has traveled and worked in 120 countries around the world. Some of his experiences have included working to develop 4-H Club Programs in Costa Rica, serving as the Far East Trade representative for the State of Illinois in Hong Kong, and conducting market development activities on the Ivory Coast.
More recently, he taught workshops in Turkmenistan on business enterprise development and in Ethiopia on planning and appraising rural economic development projects.