Tobby Bragdon

As the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at Central Maine Community College in Auburn, Tobby provides support to students, staff, and faculty at the college, ensuring academic success. He directly supervises the Learning Commons (library and tutoring) and TRiO (student support services), and he provides back-up to the Dean on supporting the 200+ faculty who report directly to the Academic Affairs office. Tobby also supervises initiatives that have a direct impact on student success, including the Academic Recovery Program (intensive mentoring for students on academic probation), Open Educational Resources (reduction in cost of college textbooks for students), and the granting of academic credit for previous life experience and military experience. His job, in short, is to help students and faculty ensure that educational quality is high and that students receive all of the academic supports possible to excel in their studies. Tobby also has a strong focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and has served as the college point person on initiatives that support fostering greater DEI in our community. Most importantly, he models how to treat everyone on campus with respect and empathy, and he is seen as not only a formal leader, but also a sounding board and informal leader for students, faculty, and staff throughout the campus. He is diplomatic, caring, and always focused on student success. Lastly, with the departure of the Dean of Academic Affairs from the college in September 2023, Tobby will become, at the age of 32, the senior-most leader in the Academic Affairs division, taking on both formal projects, such as college leadership on our Complete College America initiative, and continuing informal leadership for troubleshooting student, faculty, and staff challenges. He does all of this while also teaching social science courses, completing his own doctorate with a dissertation focused on community college/university transfer initiatives in rural states, and serving his community as a foster father to 6-year-old twin girls.