Hercules Pinkney, Ed.D.
Interim President, Montgomery College

Dr. Hercules Pinkney serves as the interim president of Montgomery College, a three-campus community college in Montgomery County, Maryland. In this role, he oversees the education and student services for 60,000 credit and noncredit students.

Dr. Pinkney previously served as vice president and provost of the Germantown Campus of Montgomery College. As provost, he was the chief academic and student services administrator of the Germantown Campus. In addition, he provided oversight for the College's information technology programs, distance learning, service learning, the Center for Teaching and Learning, Student Employment Services, and the Carl D. Perkins Grant Program.

Dr. Pinkney also served as the principal investigator of a three-year $600,000 grant from the Partnerships for Innovation of the National Science Foundation to help create a comprehensive educational and training continuum to foster innovation in biotechnology.

Dr. Pinkney has led the College’s efforts to develop an innovative center for bioscience, research, and business development on the Germantown Campus. Building on the success of the College's biotechnology and science programs, this visionary project has already resulted in a Montgomery County-operated business incubator. In the spring of 2010, Montgomery College will break ground on a 130-thousand-square-foot Bioscience Education Center with state-of-the-art classrooms and laboratories. The final part of the project is a life sciences and technology park designed to be another world-class center for research and business development in Montgomery County.

At the state level, Dr. Pinkney was appointed by Governor Martin O’Malley to a 15-member Life Sciences Advisory Board charged with developing a comprehensive strategic plan for Maryland’s life sciences industry. He is a former member of the Board of Directors of Leadership Montgomery and the Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce, where he served as the 2005 chairman of the Board of Directors. He was named 2003 Educator of the Year by the African American Chamber of Commerce.

Prior to coming to Montgomery College in the summer of 2000, Dr. Pinkney served for 11 years as vice president for Continuing Education and Evening Programs at Prince George’s Community College. Previously, he was director of continuing education for the former State Board for Community Colleges, determining the eligibility of courses for state funding to community colleges throughout the state of Maryland.

From 1979 to 1983, Dr. Pinkney previously served as the assistant dean for programming in the continuing education area at Montgomery College. When he left in 1983, he had been named acting provost for Continuing Education. Dr. Pinkney has held administrative positions at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Virginia, and at the former Federal City College in Washington, D.C. He also has teaching experience in two public school systems and two four-year colleges.

Dr. Pinkney earned his Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Claflin College, where he graduated cum laude, and his master's degree in education from South Carolina State College, both in Orangeburg, South Carolina. He also holds a Doctor of Education degree (Ed.D.) in educational administration from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.