Biography

Currently, Dr. Ellison is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Missouri Kansas City Bloch School of Business and Public Administration. Prior to retirement in 2001, he was a Missouri Shutte Endowed Professor of Urban Affairs at the University, teaching graduate courses in business and public administration. For 17years from 1974 to 1991, Dr. Ellison was President and CEO of Cuyahoga Community College, a three-campus urban district serving over 40, 000 credit students. Ellison currently divides his time as a visiting professor in urban affairs in UMKC's L.P. Cookingham Institute of Public Affairs and as a consultant to the Samuel Rodgers Community Health Clinic. As Schutte professor, he will help shape the university's involvement in local urban projects, strengthen recruitment of women and minorities in the public affairs program, design courses in urban administration and urban issues, and assist local community groups and governments on urban projects. "We're pleased to have someone of Nolen Ellison's stature in this position," said William Eddy, dean of the Bloch School. "Under Dr. Ellison's leadership, we plan to continue strengthening UMKC's role in the urban community." Before joining UMKC's Bloch School in June 1992, Ellison served as president and chief executive officer of Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland for 17 years. He also has held administrative positions at Seattle Central Community College, Metropolitan Community Colleges in Kansas City and Michigan State University in East Lansing. In 1988, the Miller Co. identified Ellison as one of 12 outstanding educators for its "Calendar of Great Black Educators in the 20th Century." Ellison served as interim president and executive director of 20 Good Men, based in Kansas City, Kan., and as UMKC's representative on the 21st Century Communities Project, a 10-year effort to address urban problems. He also is a member of the Kellogg Foundation Advisory Panel on Community Colleges, the National Advisory Board of the Quality Education for Minorities Network and the American Association of University Professors. Ellison received a bachelor's degree in history and biology from the University of Kansas and a doctoral degree in urban planning and institutional management from Michigan State University. The Bloch School's Cookingham Institute offers study in urban administration, non-profit management and health administration. The school's public administration program is among only 54 percent nationally that are accredited by the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration.