Several Recommendations Made as Part of Bennett College Re-Engineering

GREENSBORO, N.C. 7/18/2019 –Bennett College students returning to school next month can expect to see some major differences.

Yvonne Johnson, Greensboro mayor pro-tem, is one of the heads of the committee and she said things are going well. The re-engineering team started meeting three months ago and said they’ve already made several recommendations for improvement to the board of trustees.

A team of more than 20 people worked endlessly this summer with the goal of breathing new life into Bennett College.

“It’s like a real overall down to the bones look at everything,” Johnson said.

Several recommendations have already been made to the board of trustees.

“The board of trustees is chipping away at doing what we’ve asked them today,” she said.

Their most recent and evident recommendation is the school’s leadership.

“She has a plan and she has a vision and from all I heard about her she will do it,” Johnson said.

Bennett College announced its new president back in June. Education innovator Suzanne Walsh starts her job on Aug. 1.

“I’m anxious to meet her. I understand she’s a dynamic human being. Worked for the Gates Foundation,” Johnson said.

The committee also requested an expansion of the board of trustees.

“You need people who know finance, you need people who are in the business committee and in education, so you need a diverse number of people.

Johnson said they still have a lot of work to do, especially in the area of academics. She also said that as of right now the school is still accredited.

“But we’re going to try and mediate the situation with SACS. We have attorneys and so forth that are working on that so it would be much better to do that especially with more leadership coming in,” Johnson said.