On July 1st, Calumet College of St. Joseph welcomed a new President to their campus, Dr. Amy McCormack. With a wealth of experience and plans for the future, Dr. McCormack is a positive addition, excited to begin her new journey at CCSJ.
Dr. McCormack studied at Indiana University and received her degree in accounting. After graduation, she became a Certified Public Accountant and worked for a company in Chicago. She soon found herself at Dominican University in Illinois, where she worked her way up to becoming the Vice President of Finance and Administration. While there, she also studied and obtained her Doctorate Degree in Higher Education from the University of Pennsylvania. She believes her background will serve her well at CCSJ.
“This is an institution that doesn’t have deep pockets and needs to grow so we’re looking at growing enrollment and investing in new programs and new strategies that will make the institution stronger. I think my financial background is helpful for that,” said Dr. McCormack.
Deciding to leave the institution she’d been at for 26 years took some thought, but Dr. McCormack found a lot of aspects of CCSJ which attracted her to it. The college makes her feel at home, sharing similar values with her old university.
“They have a commitment to community outreach, partnerships, service, and to social justice that feels very similar. I feel very at home here,” said Dr. McCormack.
Feeling at home in a new place can be difficult, but Dr. McCormack has enjoyed the challenges of beginning somewhere new and looks forward to her future with CCSJ.
“I just feel like there’s little kernels of opportunity that I'm excited to be a part of. The more people I talk to, the more ideas they generate and we generate together,” said Dr. McCormack. “I would say I’m looking forward to supporting a lot of the good things that are already happening here.”
Community involvement, something stressed at CCSJ, is important to Dr. McCormack as well. Ideas are plentiful around her, and picking the best to move forward with will be one of the challenges she faces, but ultimately looks forward to.
“There’s no shortage of ideas so I’m trying to find the best of those ideas and entice people to come along on our journey and make this a bigger more vibrant contributor to the community. I want to be at the heart of that if I can be,” said Dr. McCormack.
Having grown up in central Indiana, Dr. McCormack is happy to be back. She has two daughters, both in college, and a husband who works in Chicago. Having worked for so long in a city, the diversity of the area is one of the many things that attracted her to CCSJ.
“I love nature. I love to be outside, I think that’s the real attraction to this area. You see all the industry surrounding you, but within that industry there’s pockets of nature,” said McCormack.
While enjoying the nature made available to her in Northwest Indiana, Dr. McCormack is also looking forward to helping the students and programs of CCSJ grow with her direction.
“I feel like I'm at the ground floor of a lot of upward momentum. These students have great stories to tell so I’m hoping to support them and be a platform so that they can succeed in whatever their dreams are in the future,” said McCormack.
To learn more about Calumet College of St. Joseph, visit: www.ccsj.edu