The president of Erie Community College is leaving for a new position. ECC’s Board of Trustees has announced Dan Hocoy will remain through his contract, ending June 30, then move to Missouri.

Hocoy has led ECC for only three years, after serving in various administrative roles in higher education over the last 20 years. He took over for former congressman Jack Quinn, who served as president from 2008 to 2017.

Hocoy will assume the position of Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives for Metropolitan Community College and President of MCC-Longview campus in July.  ECC said MCC serves 30,000 students across five campuses in the greater Kansas City area, while MCC-Longview is the only community college ever selected as TIME magazine’s College of the Year.

“It has been a blessing to be back in the region of my childhood, which also allowed me to take care of my parents in their last days,” Hocoy said about his presidency. “And it has been my greatest honor to serve the College and work with our Board of Trustees, the County Executive and the Erie County Legislature. I have also enjoyed being part of the SUNY family, working closely with Senior Vice Chancellor of Community Colleges, Johanna Duncan-Poitier, as well as serving Chancellor Kristina Johnson and the great state of New York.”

ECC Trustees Chair Len Lenihan said the Board is immediately undertaking plans for interim leadership, while beginning the process to form a search committee for the next president.

“We are grateful to Dr. Hocoy for his valuable contributions to advance SUNY Erie over the past three years,” said Lenihan. “Dan has been able to bring financial stability to the College with balanced budgets and creating efficiencies that contributed to the highest reserves the College has ever seen. He was also able to move the College from “warning” into “good standing” with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. His work to bring innovation and change to the College has been instrumental in helping us identify areas for growth and improvement that will benefit the College for a long time to come.”