PORT ANGELES — Luke P. Robins, the first of four finalists for president of Peninsula College to visit the North Olympic Peninsula this week, said ongoing cuts to higher education budgets often demand responding with an entrepreneurial approach.
A changing economic reality has stripped college funding to the point that colleges soon will no longer be “state-supported” but simply “state-sanctioned,” Robins said at a Port Angeles public forum Monday.
“I don’t think that is going to change,” said the finalist, who described himself as “in his 50s” and who also addressed public forums in Forks on Monday and in Port Townsend on Tuesday.
Not unique problem
He said the problem is not unique to Peninsula College or to Louisiana Delta Community College in Monroe, La., where Robins has served as chancellor since 2006.
“Strategic goals should drive your budget,” he said. “Your budget should not drive your strategic goals.”
A goal might take longer to achieve during bad economic times, but it still should be in place, he said.
Trustees chose Robins and three other finalists — all of whom hold doctorates — from a field of 23 applicants Feb. 21.
The other finalists are:
■ Cheri A. Jimeno, president of New Mexico State University at Alamogordo.
■ John R. (Ron) Langrell III, executive vice president of Riverland Community College in Austin, Minn.
■ Dorothy J. Duran, vice president for academic affairs at Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Trustees plan to choose a president from the finalists Tuesday.
The open public session will begin at 2 p.m., following a closed executive session at noon, at the Cornaby Center (A-12) on the Peninsula College main campus at 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd. in Port Angeles.
The new president will replace Tom Keegan, who left in February to be Skagit Valley College’s new president after 10 years of leading Peninsula College.
Brinton Sprague, a retired community college leader now living in Port Ludlow, is serving as interim president.
Robins said he applied for the job at Louisiana Delta, which has 2,700 enrolled students, because of the challenge and unique experience of directing a new college, which opened its main campus in 2001.
Money-making
The school has turned its workforce training center into a money-making enterprise that supports other school programs, he said.
Delta received full initial accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 2009, and the school’s nursing program admitted its first class in January 2010.
His marching orders were to get the college out of its 16,000-square-foot space and get the emerging college accredited.
By 2010, he had achieved both — a fully accredited two-year college and a $45 million campus, he said.
Peninsula College has a different kind of appeal, Robins said.
“There are great things happening at Peninsula College,” he said.
In Port Angeles on Monday, Robins noted that Peninsula College was able to replace nearly all of the school’s old buildings over the past decade, during a challenging economic era, and expand the school’s educational offerings.
Robins and his wife, Mary Jane, have two children in college.
“I’ve lived in the West before, and I love the Northwest,” Robins said.
Robins is an avid fisherman who hopes to spend some time on Peninsula rivers.
Robins has served as executive vice president and chief academic officer at National Park Community College in Hot Springs, Ark., and dean of instruction at Eastern Idaho Technical College in Idaho Falls, Idaho.
The three other candidates for the position are scheduled to meet with trustees and the community this week.
■ Jimeno appeared at community forums in Forks and Port Angeles on Tuesday and will meet with faculty, staff and community members in Port Townsend today.
■ Langrell will appear at community forums in Forks and Port Angeles today and in Port Townsend on Thursday.
■ Duran will appear in Forks and Port Angeles on Thursday and in Port Townsend on Friday.
All candidate public forums in Port Angeles begin at 5:30 p.m. in Keegan Hall on the main campus at 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
The Forks gatherings are at 11 a.m. at the Forks Extension site at 71 S. Forks Ave.
The Port Townsend forums are at 1 p.m. at the chapel at Fort Worden State Park.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
