Last week, Richard Morgan became the first candidate to file for the Dallas County Community College District Board of Trustees in District 2, which is an open seat being vacated by outgoing Trustee Bob Ferguson. As a former student of both Eastfield and El Centro College, Richard is passionate about addressing the challenges facing the district while simultaneously keeping community college affordable for both students and taxpayers.
Morgan explained his motivation to run for the DCCCD Board of Trustees, “With more than 72,000 students, the success of DCCCD is vital to our North Texas economy. Less than one-third of our Dallas County jobs require a bachelor’s degree or higher, with most jobs requiring only an associate’s degree, certification, or short to medium term training which can be earned at a community college. If we want North Texas to remain a great place to live and do business, it’s critical that DCCCD remains strong and affordable and continues to produce high quality graduates."
Morgan described the biggest challenges as improving graduation rates and helping students successfully complete developmental courses, “Just over one-quarter of our full-time, credential-seeking students at DCCCD earn a two-year degree or certification within six years, and at some campuses more than half of our first-time community college students require developmental courses before they can begin taking college-level courses.”
Morgan’s priority is to keep the district focused on the basics such as graduation rates and developmental courses while keeping community college affordable for both students and taxpayers. “With college costs rising nationwide, we need to ensure that community college remains affordable for all students. Over the last decade since I was a student at Eastfield, tuition at DCCCD has increased by 60%, making it harder for the students who most need a community college education to succeed in the system. In addition, the typical student at DCCCD will spend more on textbooks than tuition itself. We have the opportunity to cut the cost of education in half for many of our courses by embracing open textbooks at DCCCD. The two largest community college districts in the country have already done so, and it’s time for us to do the same."
Since beginning his campaign nearly three months ago, Richard has met with students, parents, and voters all across District 2 and has received over 200 endorsements from community leaders, including State Representatives Matt Rinaldi, Rodney Anderson, Kenneth Sheets, Dallas County Schools Vice President Paul Freeman, and Farmers Branch Mayor Bob Phelps. District 2 includes Coppell, Carrollton, Farmers Branch, North Irving, Preston Hollow, Park Cities, Uptown, and downtown Dallas.
Since taking his first Computer Science class at Eastfield College, Richard has worked as a software engineer with some of the most innovative technology companies in the nation, including two large cloud computing companies and a cloud virtualization provider. He currently works at a technology company which is automating the healthcare supply chain contracting process, saving hospitals time and money. He previously worked on staff in the technology department at Dallas Baptist University, where he worked closely with department heads to develop the online application for admission, the university intranet, the athletics website, and the emergency messaging system for students and staff. He has been a resident of Dallas County for over 10 years and a homeowner in District 2 for the last five years.
