Dr. Church served 45 years as a leader in higher education, 30 of those years as president of Lorain County Community College until his retirement in June, 2016.  Dr. Church is recognized for his leadership in creating innovative models to fulfill the four cornerstones of the comprehensive community college mission:  education, economic, community and cultural development.  Notable among these are the nationally recognized University Partnership Program, an Early College High School and a Public Service Institute with its Joint Center for Policy Research.  In addition, Dr. Church has worked to build collaborative initiatives with business, organized labor and government to enhance workforce education, economic development and entrepreneurial activity in Northeast Ohio.  

Dr. Church is nationally recognized for developing a comprehensive portfolio of innovation and entrepreneurship resources to help stimulate technology-based economic growth.  His leadership has led to the creation of GLIDE, which is recognized by the State of Ohio a highly successful Technology Incubator; the Innovation Fund, a $20 million pre-seed fund for regional technology start-ups; a 46,000 square foot commercialization center for sensors and microsystems; and a 75,000 square foot Advanced Technologies Center supporting advanced manufacturing and containing a National Science Foundation Weld-Ed Center and a digital rapid prototyping center. 

Upon his retirement in June 2016, the Lorain County Community College District Board of Trustees honored Dr. Church with title of President Emeritus.  In this role, Dr. Church will continue to advance the College’s pioneering work in technology commercialization, entrepreneurship and innovation as related to state and federal priorities.  In addition, Dr. Church will remain a Director of the Lorain County Community College Foundation, the direct support organization of College.