Monday, August 15, 2005

The Harris files

I see in today's News-Gazette.that Parkland College President Zelema Harris is going to retire in June of 2006. She's been on the job a remarkable 15 years!

The Ol' Guy (and a few others, I would assume) are old enough to remember a time before Harris was president of the energetic, vital and growing community college. He's also old enough to remember a time when the junior college wasn't quite as energetic, vital and growing.

Harris did a lot of good things for the college and for our communities. Her time was, of course, not without controversy. But it also was not without triumphs. And there are many more triumphs.
She also led a dramatic expansion in college-bound, technology, work force preparation and other programs and helped put Parkland on the international map by forging ties with universities abroad, most recently Beijing Vocational College of Agriculture.
At a time when state funding's been a challenge, Harris presided over stable financial conditions at the college and major expansion projects that included building a new west-side wing.
We'll miss her. If we're smart.

And so it goes.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It's sad to see her go. She's been great for Parkland and the community. It'll be remarkable if we get someone to lead Parkland who is as well-suited to the job now as she was then (and now, for that matter).