50
IRSC at 60
LEADERSHIP
success during Massey’s tenure.
It serves more than 30,000 students a year on the Treasure
Coast, including part-timers. The full-time equivalent number
of students in 2018 was nearly 14,000, up from 5,200 in
1987, the year before Massey took office.
A whopping 96.4 percent of IRSC graduates get jobs or
continue their education. The school, at which seven in 10
students also work, has a regular place among the five most
affordable U.S. colleges, according to the U.S. Department of
Education, and 91 percent of its graduates leave debt-free.
The list goes on and on, just like the long list of awards
Massey has won and the national, state and local boards he’s
been on and often chaired. For instance, in 2013 the Association
of Community College Trustees awarded him the Southern
Regional Chief Executive Officer Award and named him
National CEO of the Year.
IRSC has provided the Treasure Coast, through its health
sciences programs, with many of its radiologists, nurses and
medical-laboratory technicians, jobs sure to be in demand as
the region’s population grows and its population ages.
The college has a building that looks and acts like a hospital,
complete with a bay for ambulances, an emergency
room and treatment rooms. And its public safety complex has
buildings that are as alike as possible to the jails where future
officers will work. And there is a combat village for staging
real-life situations that law enforcement officers face.
It is a coincidence that about the same time Massey arrived
on campus, the school began precedent-setting national
championship runs for the men’s 45 consecutive and counting
and women’s 37 straight and 41 total swim teams.
The swimming complex, expanded greatly and improved
since Massey’s arrival, was near the southern end of the developed
portion of Indian River’s main campus in Fort Pierce.
Still in the same spot, the pool complex is now in the heart
of campus, widely outflanked to the west by the sprawling
Treasure Coast Public Safety Complex where cadets learn the
Ken Pruitt, former state Senate president and
St. Lucie County property appraiser
“Ed Massey is a giant among us, and he’s
probably one of the most humble individuals
you’ll ever meet, even though he’s been wildly
successful in his career. He has left a very large
footprint. Candidly, I wouldn’t want to be the
person to follow him.
“He’s a visionary who knows exactly where he wants to
take the college and he is someone who, when he lays out
his goals with his board of trustees, he accomplishes them
because he embraces everybody being involved. He realizes
that it’s not just about him. He brings everyone together
and doesn’t make it about himself but makes it about the
community.”
John Holdnak, president of Gulf Coast State
College in Panama City
“He is the kind of president I would like to
be, and his college is the kind of college I’d
like ours to be. As a higher education administrator,
he’s the consummate professional.
He’s the exemplar who all the rest of us try to
match.”
Alma Lee Loy, former IRSC Foundation Board
member and fellow member at First Baptist
Church of Vero Beach
“He excels as a team player. His record at
IRSC shows his ability to work with his faculty,
students, and to cultivate an atmosphere for
students to learn and excel in college and their
future endeavors. You can’t say enough good things about
Ed Massey. He’s got a heart so big he wants to help anyone
he can.”
Josh Wyner, Aspen Institute vice president
and head of its higher education work
“Any community college in the country
would be lucky to have a leader who is as
deeply committed to student success, and
to the long-term health of his college as Dr.
Massey is.”
Rebecca Corbin, president and CEO,
National Association for Community College
Entrepreneurship
“There are not too many people in this
world like Dr. Massey. He has the passion
and the vision so that he can see far into the
future of what could be. He recognizes people
around him. Everyone, from students to people who work
relatively humble jobs. There aren’t that many people who
have all those attributes.”
Wayne Gent, superintendent of St. Lucie
County public schools
“My staff meets regularly with college staff.
We are always looking for new ideas and innovations
to help our students be successful.
We have an excellent relationship. That probably
wouldn’t have happened under any other
leader than Dr. Massey.”
Pete Tesch, president, Economic Development
Council of St. Lucie County (Massey served as
the group’s board chairman in 2017)
“He’s the iconic business and community
leader not only in the Treasure Coast but also
the state of Florida. Workforce development
is the currency of economic development.
Everything that has to do with workforce readiness and talent
development typically begins with having a very strong
state of community college foundation. Look that up in the
dictionary, and there’s a picture of Dr. Massey.”
Bruce Abernethy Sr., former chairman of the
Indian River State College board of trustees
“Ed Massey had the managerial approach
that included everybody from the janitors right
on up to the heads of departments and he
depended on them for advice and guidance.
The professors and the employees love him
because he gave them leeway and trust.”
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