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| Scott Baker will become SCC’s vice president for information technology on Jan. 1. |
After serving Southwestern Community College in dual roles the past few months, Scott Baker has been named Southwestern Community College’s vice president for information technology.
Baker has been the dean of career technologies for four years, and he’s led the information technology department since Dr. Ryan Schwiebert left in August to become the vice president for information technology services at Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh.
A Jackson County native, Baker will become SCC’s permanent vice president for information technology on Jan. 1. A search is underway to find a new dean of career technologies.
“Scott has done an exceptional job guiding our information technology department on an interim basis these past few months, and we’re pleased to move him to that position on a permanent basis,” said Dr. Don Tomas, president of SCC. “He has an extensive background in information technology from a professional and instructional standpoint. I expect him to be able to reach across all sectors of the College to provide leadership, service and expertise in Information Technology to faculty, staff and students.”
Baker earned his bachelor’s of science degree from UNC Charlotte (1992) and his master’s of science from East Carolina (2007). He was a full-time faculty member at SCC from 2004-2010.
Now in its 50th year of serving Jackson, Macon, Swain Counties and the Qualla Boundary, Southwestern has been a part of Baker’s life since he was a young boy growing up in Webster.
His father, Bob Baker, taught adjunct upholstery classes at Southwestern. Heather Baker, Scott’s wife, also served as an adjunct instructor at SCC.
And Renee Cohen, Scott’s mother-in-law, served as career technologies division chair. She retired from SCC before Scott started at the college. They even worked with the same administrative assistant, Claudia Buchanan.
“I am very honored to be selected for this position at SCC,” said Baker, who attended Fairview Elementary and graduated from Sylva-Webster in 1988. “There has been an overwhelming level of support from faculty, staff, and administration shown towards me in this position. I really appreciate the opportunity to keep our college as one of the top in the state and the nation. … It is great to be part of a place that makes such a difference in our community and people's lives.”
For more information about SCC, visit southwesterncc.edu or call 828.339.4000. Applications are now being accepted for the spring semester, which start Jan. 7.
