By Rebecca Heath
News Editor
Although Suzanne McCotter may still be adjusting to her role leading all academic aspects of the College, the newly-appointed interim provost and vice president for academic affairs is no stranger to the classroom.
McCotter’s journey in education stems back to her years as a teacher in Edison and Rahway, where she taught nearly every grade. In 1999, she embarked on her career in higher education — which has spanned over 25 years — after landing her first full-time faculty position at Millersville University in Pennsylvania.
While serving as chair of the Department of Educational Foundations at Millersville, McCotter, a New Jersey native, found herself longing to return to her home state. She subsequently accepted an offer at Montclair State University, where she spent eleven years serving in various capacities, from a faculty position to an associate dean for academic affairs stint within the College of Education and Human Services.
McCotter said she had no intention of leaving Montclair, but when her son’s college search led him to TCNJ, they both instantly “fell in love” with the institution.
“I kept looking at the School of Education and thinking, ‘What a great place,’” McCotter said. “So then I got home and about a week later, the ad for a dean of the School of Education at TCNJ came up, so I ended up throwing my hat in the ring.”
After McCotter landed the job and her son received an acceptance to study philosophy, they both began their journeys at the College in 2017.
“I have always been a person that says ‘yes’ to new opportunities,” she said.
McCotter served a five-year tenure as dean of the School of Education, where she fiercely advocated to create a statewide impact on teacher education, before transitioning into the role of dean of Graduate and Continuing Education last year. During her year-long term, McCotter created a team to strengthen graduate education and established partnerships with numerous school districts and health organizations, in an effort to “bring what TCNJ is so good at out to the rest of the world.”
“I thought I'd be there for a while, but then when Provost Osborne left and this position came open, I thought ‘this is the logical next step for me, and I don't know if I'm ready for it, but if I don't take it now, then I might miss my opportunity,’” McCotter said.
As part of her new role, McCotter heads the College’s academic affairs department, which oversees classes, curriculum, faculty and schools, among other academic components.
“I think the thing that was most important to me is that the group of deans who are working on this campus are a group of really talented, innovative, exciting individuals,” she said. “What they were looking for was somebody who could harness all that creativity and figure out ways to bring it together.”
As a vice president, McCotter also serves as one of nine members of the president’s cabinet, which is an advisory group that meets weekly to provide executive leadership for the College’s academic and administrative areas.
“It was my opportunity to have a seat at that table and contribute to the cabinet in a different way, and elevate the voices of my dean colleagues by bringing them to that table through me,” she said.
Since starting her tenure on Feb. 5, one of McCotter’s main objectives has been supporting Interim President Bernstein on the implementation of the LIONS initiative, which involves a number of “working groups” dedicated to developing projects aimed at enhancing various divisions of the College.
“We’re facing a time when we have to make some really important decisions about the future of TCNJ and what it's going to look like,” McCotter said. “I think that there's a perception that all of those initiatives mean that we're going to have to start saying no to a lot of the things that we do. My approach is that this is an opportunity for us to figure out what we want to say ‘yes’ to for the next 10 or 20 years.”
She added, “It doesn't mean we're going to stop doing the things that make us great. It may mean that we expand them in some different ways, but it's our chance to really be creative. Each generation changes traditions a little bit to make them more meaningful, and this is our opportunity to do that. I'm so excited to lead that effort.”
While McCotter’s new position has entailed “so much more” than she anticipated and often involves working long hours, the interim provost’s “exciting” endeavors keep her energized.
“I've been working so much, but I'm not tired because it's such exciting work,” she said. “Creativity and innovation are very exciting for me, and I think we are perfectly poised to be creative and innovative right now.”
McCotter is unsure what her next steps will be after her 18-month term comes to an end in August 2025, but she is certain she will continue saying “yes” to exciting opportunities, and encourages others to do the same.
