Chairman’s Note:

The Board of Directors of LOCATE Finger Lakes wishes to congratulate our fellow Board Member Dr. Brian Durant, President of Cayuga Community College, on his recent contract extension by the College’s Board of Trustees. Under President Durant guidance, the College continues to serve its students and region with the highest quality education. We also wish to thank President Durant for his leadership in entrepreneurial education and sponsoring with Finger Lakes Community College YEA! programs in the Finger Lakes region. Congratulations again.

Michael F. Nozzolio, Chairman
Board of Directors
LOCATE Finger Lakes

The Cayuga Community College Board of Trustees has approved a contract extension for the institution’s president, along with an annual pay increase.

Dr. Brian Durant’s contract extension into the 2025-2026 school year was approved unanimously at a board meeting Tuesday morning. Durant, who joined the college in 2015 as its ninth president, will receive a 1.9% salary increase each year.

In December 2018, the trustees extended Durant’s contract to 2024 with a pay raise provision. He was set to receive an annual 1.9% pay increase until 2023, with a retroactive $5,000 merit bonus for performance for the 2017-2018 school year.

CCC President Brian Durant presents a graduate with a certificate at the college’s 2019 commencement ceremony. Photo by Dan Orzechowski

A 2018 report from the Albany think tank Empire Center for Public Policy ranked Durant as the second highest-paid municipal government employee in central New York for the state’s 2017-2018 fiscal year, as he was making $187,995. The Empire Center’s seethroughny.net database of government salaries reported Durant’s 2020 pay was $203,500. According to the SUNY website, he was appointed at CCC with an annual salary of $170,000 in 2015.

Following the meeting, CCC issued a news release Tuesday announcing the extension and highlighting the president’s accomplishments. Under Durant, CCC expanded its programming with school districts in Cayuga and Oswego counties, and launched new degree programs in environmental science, culinary arts, occupational therapy assistant, and event and tourism management. Also during his tenure, the college secured funding from Auburn’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative, in which the state is allocating $10 million toward projects within downtown, for the college’s upcoming culinary training center in the Plaza of the Arts building on Genesee Street. The center is set to open in 2021.

During Tuesday’s meeting, which was held via the videoconferencing service Zoom, board Chair Marian Brown said the resolution for the extension recognizes Durant’s “extraordinary performance” in leading the college.

“This is a vote of confidence in his leadership, and that of the entire leadership team and all of the faculty and staff at the college,” Brown said. “This is to say ‘Thank you,’ and we want more of the same.”

Durant thanked the trustees. “It’s my absolute privilege to be able to serve as president of this institution, and I get to do it with great people day in and day out in a wonderful community. We continue to be focused on the important projects and opportunities in front of us to support our students and to support our regions.”

The Citizen staff writer Kelly Rocheleau can be reached at (315) 282-2243 or kelly.rocheleau@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @KellyRocheleau.