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About President Dr. Dennis C. Rittle
Before joining NWACC, Dr. Dennis C. Rittle was the Cowley College President in Arkansas City, KS., and previously served as the Ozarka College Provost and Executive Vice President of Learning in Melbourne, AR.
Dr. Rittle began serving as a full-time faculty member in higher education in 1995 and has since provided educational leadership for government, for-profit, and public educational sectors in both two-year and four-year institutions.
He was the first in his family to attend college and to earn a two-year degree from the Community College of the Air Force. While in the military, Dr. Rittle served both overseas and stateside during peacetime and conflict and is a highly decorated veteran and a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Throughout his career, he has completed six degrees and has since completed post-doctoral coursework at Harvard University.
Dr. Rittle is a highly respected presenter in local, national and international settings to include being a guest lecturer and presenter in venues such as Bentonville, Arkansas, at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and in Oxford, United Kingdom. He is also an accomplished researcher and author, with more than a dozen scholarly publications.
Student success has served as a centerpiece throughout Dr. Rittle’s career. He has been involved in the development of more than six dozen academic programs and certificates to provide a skilled and work-ready workforce to area businesses and industries. In addition, he understands the importance of co-curricular and extracurricular opportunities such as internships, student clubs, athletics, and campus-life activities to enhance student learning, student retention and community engagement. Dr. Rittle also recognizes and supports the value of the college’s most important resource, the employees. During his tenure as a college president, he has championed the adoption and implementation of competitive pay scales for all employees during both of his tenures as a college president.
As a transformational servant leader, Dr. Rittle has served on numerous state and national boards, councils and committees, to include serving as the President of the Kansas Community College Council of Presidents, as a board member of the Arkansas Association of Two-Year Colleges, and as a member of the Association of Community College Trustees Presidential Advisory Committee. Dr. Rittle has been the recipient of numerous local, state and national awards in education, business and leadership. However, he considers his greatest achievement to be his family. Dennis and his wife, Christy, have been married for 34 years. They have two adult children, who are married, and have one grandchild. Dennis and Christy enjoy spending time in nature and volunteering their time and resources to meet community needs.
Dr. Rittle earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Organizational Leadership, emphasis in Human Resource Development, from Regent University in Virginia Beach, VA, a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS, a Master of Arts in Leadership Studies from Lancaster Bible College and Graduate School in Lancaster, PA, a Bachelor of Arts in Theology from Evangel University in Springfield, MO, and two Associate of Applied Science degrees in Teaching and in Meteorology from the Community College of the Air Force in Montgomery, AL. Since completing his doctoral degree, Dr. Rittle has completed post-doctoral coursework at Harvard University in Educational Management.