Sinclair Provost Dr. Helen Grove came to Sinclair in 1999 as dean of Extended Learning and Human Services and interim director of Technology Enhanced Learning.
After seeing out the three-year challenge of transitioning the college from quarters to semesters, Grove will be retiring at the end of August.
“I’m excited and I’m also sad to leave Sinclair and its people—I have loved working here,” said Grove. “It’s about the best job I could imagine to end my career with, but I am excited about what lies ahead.”
Grove said that she and her husband love to travel, and plan on exploring both the U.S. and other countries after her retirement. She plans on participating in international service focusing on serving women and girls in developing countries.
Although her destination is still undecided, Grove said that she might begin her service in Cameroon, where her nephew established a village school while he was in the Peace Corps. Although girls are traditionally not educated in the area, leaders have agreed to allow all children to learn at the new school.
“The school’s built, but it needs a lot of help, so that might be a place where I’ll start,” said Grove. “It’s a very small village and a small school, so I think you do whatever needs to be done.”
Grove said that of her many accomplishments at Sinclair, she is most proud of her work establishing the Center for Teaching and Learning.
“It’s a place where faculty can go to think about their teaching and work on new approaches to teaching, where they can learn at a deeper level about human learning and what facilitates that and what gets in the way,” said Grove. “I’m very pleased to have been able to support that.”
Grove said that she considers it a privilege to have been able to serve the college as provost since 2006.
“I have great admiration for the perseverance of our students and the creative and hard work of our faculty,” said Grove. “And from this office you get to see that every day, and it’s a wonderful thing.”
Grove said that she wants to thank the faculty and staff for their admirable work and that she would advise all students to “stick with it” and complete their certificates or degrees. Her favorite memories of Sinclair are of commencement.
“There’s just something quite special about earning that degree and receiving it,” said Grove. “Every year at commencement, throughout my career, it has been a wonderful reminder of why we do what we do all year long.”
Dr. Kenneth Moore
After twelve years of service to the college, Dr. Kenneth Moore will be retiring from his position as senior vice president and chief information officer at Sinclair.
Moore became Sinclair’s first vice president for information technology in 2000. In 2006, he took on his current position, which included responsibility for business services, public safety, information services and the library.
Under Moore’s leadership, the IT division has won several awards and has created a number of new applications to serve Sinclair students.
“We’ve developed some…industry-leading software applications, like the Student Success Plan and the MAP,” said Moore. “I don’t know of any other colleges that have done things like that as much as we have.”
Moore attributes those successes to the school’s willingness to provide the funds and resources for the projects, and to his high-performing staff.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to hire the best group of directors, managers and individual contributors in higher education. I’ve got a tremendous staff,” said Moore. “They’re very hard workers, they’re very attuned to helping students succeed.”
Moore was also responsible both for the construction of the Sinclair Courseview Campus in Warren County and the $8 million library renovation that led to the modern, Starbucks-centered facility students are familiar with today. Those changes led to a 1,000 percent increase in student use of the library area.
“Before it looked like something out of the 60s, and nobody wanted to go down there,” said Moore. “Now it’s kind of the gathering place.”
Moore said that seeing those projects take off was very gratifying.
After his retirement on June 30, Moore said he’s planning on taking it easy for a few months and maybe doing a little fishing.
He plans on traveling with his wife and thinks that Ireland and Italy will be on the itinerary. They will continue to live in Centerville and Moore hopes to continue teaching a CIS class at Sinclair in the evenings.
Moore said that his time at Sinclair has been fantastic, and though he worked for 10 different companies before going into education, he wishes he’d made the switch sooner.
“I wish I had done it long before I did, it’s very rewarding, I think you realize that you’re really helping people,” said Moore. “It sounds kind of corny, but to be able to stand up on that stage at commencement and see those people walking across there and getting those degrees, it’s very rewarding. I have yet to meet a faculty member or a staff member or an administrator who doesn’t want to help students, that’s why we’re all here, and I think that’s important.”