Allan H. Cohen: Candidate profile

Bio

Name: Allan H. Cohen

City: Glenview

Office sought: OAKTON COMMUNITY COLLEGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Age: 71

Family: married, 3 children, 2 grandchildren

Occupation: retired

Education: BA Chemistry (Univ. of Buffalo) 1968, Ph.D. Chemistry (Northwestern Univ.), 1974, Post Doc. (Univ. of Chicago), 1973-75. MBA, Finance and Marketing, (Univ. of Chicago), 1983

Civic involvement: Glenview Leadership Program, Participant 2017/18; Advocate Lutheran General Hospital and Children's Hospital, Governing Council member (2012-present); Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, Trustee (2015-present)

Previous elected offices held:

Incumbent? No If yes, when were you first elected?

Website: HTTPS://allanhcohenforocctrustee.wordpress.com/

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Issue questions

Describe your vision for the primary role of a community college.

Oakton is an important, open access component of public education in our community. It contributes to developing productive, knowledgeable and successful members of a democratic society. It provides wide ranging education throughout a lifetime including; associate degree, vocational, certificate, and continuing education.

How well is your community college fulfilling that role? What changes, if any, need to be made?

Oakton Community College is a well-run, excellent community resource. With an evolving external world and limited resources there will always be areas that are worthy of focusing on strengthening. While I am still learning about opportunities for OCC, areas that are worthy of exploring strengthening include;

-Expanding programs serving growing areas of the economy such as Health Sciences, Data Analysis, and Hybrid Science Programs that include soft and hard sciences

-Services for student success such as student advising and counseling

-Support for the Oakton Educational Foundation.

-Encourage shared governance and engagement of faculty and staff.

-Explore opportunities for community engagement

Are you currently employed by or retired from a school district, if so, which one? No

Is any member of your direct family - spouse, child or child-in-law - employed by the school district where you are seeking a school board seat?

Yes. My wife is an adjunct (part-time) instructor at OCC and will retire prior to the start of discussions of the next adjunct contract. Before moving forward with my candidacy this was brought to the attention of the Trustee Chairperson and the College President and was not viewed as a barrier to serving as a Trustee.

Community colleges provide many services to a diverse population. Is there a service your college should be providing that it is not, or reaching a segment of the population that it is not?

While not adequately understood the proportion of Oakton students from Evanston is approximately one half the Evanston proportion of total district residents. In the course of discussions a number of avenues have been identified to explore as potential contributors.