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GRDC
Member News and Kudos
MCC
Names New Damon City Campus Executive Dean
The Monroe Community College Board of Trustees announced today
its appointment of Emeterio (Pete) Otero as the new executive
dean of MCC's Damon City Campus.
 In
his recommendation of Otero to the Board of Trustees, MCC
President R. Thomas Flynn said, "We are very fortunate to
have someone like Pete Otero leading our work at the Damon
City Campus. He has the experience, he is rooted in the community,
and he believes in our vision of a vibrant and accessible
downtown community college campus."
Otero,
who has been the interim executive dean/dean of students at
DCC since last year, assumes his permanent duties immediately.
"I am very excited to get started. I love the campus,
the city and the students who come to Damon from all over
and every walk of life," Otero said. "Damon is truly
a unique academic environment because it incorporates the
rich urban setting as a living classroom. That is something
I am proud to be a part of and something we will continue
to do under my leadership."
Otero came to MCC in 1982. During his 21-year tenure, he has
served as assistant director of admissions and assistant dean
of admissions. At the Damon City Campus, Otero served as dean
of students before taking the reins as interim executive dean,
providing leadership and overseeing student development programs
in advisement, registration and orientation, student life
counseling, transfer and placement, pre-admission and financial
aid services.
Currently enrolled at SUNY Buffalo where he is pursuing a
Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy, Otero earned a
master's degree in counselor education from the SUNY College
at Brockport and a bachelor's degree in psychology and Spanish
from St. John Fisher College.
His extensive community work includes: Chairperson, Board
of Directors of the Ibero-American Action League, Inc. Chairperson,
Board of Trustees of the Rochester Public Library; Member,
Rochester City School District Benjamin Franklin High School
Strategic Panel Board member, Rochester Downtown Development
Corporation Board member, Action for a Better Community, Inc.
Otero has also served as chairperson of the Rochester City
School District's Hispanic Studies Steering Committee; chairperson
of the United Way's Hispanic Leadership Development Program
and as a scout master for a Latino Boy Scout troop. He has
hosted and produced the former WROC-TV 8 public affairs program,
Revista, which addressed Latino affairs in Rochester.
In the higher education arena, Otero is actively involved
nationally with a number of organizations including the American
College Personnel Association and the National Council on
Student Development. He also helped organize the National
Association of Student Personnel Administrators, a Northeastern
United States symposium focusing on the college recruitment
and retention of Latinos and other students from the Caribbean.
Born in Cataño, Puerto Rico, Otero immigrated to the
United States with his parents when he was three years old.
He was raised along with his four brothers and two sisters
on Buffalo's West Side. His commitment to volunteerism developed
during his childhood as he watched his father help other Puerto
Ricans relocate to Buffalo when the Puerto Rican community
there consisted of just a few dozen families.
At
17, Otero dropped out of high school and enlisted in the U.
S. Army. During his three years of military service he completed
a tour in the Panama Canal zone and earned a GED.
After the Army, Otero returned to Buffalo where he worked
in the mills at the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. In 1968,
he moved to Rochester, and worked on the production line at
Bausch & Lomb. Otero became involved with community affairs.
He became a community representative on the Model Cities Program.
He worked as a volunteer at the Lewis Street Center and at
Mt. Carmel Church. In 1970 he became a counselor/recruiter
for the Cooperative College Center, the Educational Opportunity
Center's predecessor.
6/17/03
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