Madison Bell/Roundup
Pierce College’s President, Kathleen Burke-Kelly will be filling in as president at Mission College while they begin the process of hiring a new president.
Burke-Kelly will take over the role of acting president beginning Feb. 1 through March 31, according to Burke-Kelly.
Her past experience as Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs from 2006 to 2007 at Mission College has made her an eligible candidate for the position, according to a press release from the chancellor’s office.
“My plan is to be back [at Pierce] no later than April 1,” said Burke-Kelly. “If the new president [of Mission College] isn’t able to start April 1then we will have to look into other options.”
While Burke-Kelly is serving at Mission College, Pierce College’s Vice President of Student Services, Joy McCaslin, will take over as acting president, according to Burke-Kelly.
“Dr. McCaslin held the acting president post prior to Dr. Burke-Kelly’s appointment as president and that experience will be helpful to her, no doubt, in her second acting president role,” according to a press release from the chancellor’s office.
Even though Burke-Kelly will be at Mission College for two months, she will still come to Pierce College as much as she can, according to Burke-Kelly.
“I will talk to Kathleen to make sure things go in the direction she wants,” said McCaslin. “I’m sure these two months will go very fast.”
Pierce College will be fine and will remain in good hands, according to Debbie Swarens, member of the Pierce College Council.
“The fear is that this will drag on for more than two months,” said Swarens. “Rocky Young was president at Pierce, but was reassigned to vice chancellor, and later on became the chancellor.”
It comes down to Pierce College making a contribution, according to Burke-Kelly.
“It’s hard to say no to the chancellor,” said Burke-Kelly. “When called to serve, you serve. We’ve been asked to do this and we agreed to do this.”
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