The first order of business for retiring President Orville D. Carnahan as he leaves Salt Lake Community College at the end of June is no business at all.
Carnahan announced Wednesday that he will end his nine-year tenure as SLCC president June 30. He will then begin a one-year sabbatical.At the moment he is, in fact, debating the classic American vacation question: mountains or seashore? The siren call of the Washington State beaches, which he visited often during his tenure as an education administrator there, must be weighed against his love for mountains, cultivated during 20 years of service to education in Utah.
"I have a really strong desire to get away for a bit. It's been awhile. I'm not prone to take vacations," said Carnahan.
That doesn't mean he is retiring in the sense of quitting work. After he has rested for a while, he'll begin looking for something that will afford him a form of "semiretirement," he said. Teaching educational administration may be an option, and that could require that he go back to school himself to update after many years away from active classroom participation.
"We'd prefer not to leave Utah," he said. "Only an excellent opportunity would pull us away."
As a teacher, he would have come full circle. He began his career in the old Bingham High School as an agriculture teacher, on what he thought was a short-term basis. His training at Utah State University (begun when he was 26 and freshly home from the Korean War) really prepared him for corporate ranch management, and he thought that's what he'd ultimately do.
"But I couldn't resist teaching one year. My father only had a sixth-grade education, but he instilled in his four sons a desire for education. It opened the whole world to me. After 32 years, I'm more convinced than ever that education is the most important thing."
He has re-established acquaintance with some of those Bingham High students who are now the bank presidents, car dealership owners and community stalwarts of the generation-in-charge.
His one year of teaching stretched into 32 years of educational involvement as he moved into administration. He was on the administrative staffs of several colleges and junior colleges in Idaho and Washington, and in 1976 came to Utah as associate commissioner for the Utah System of Higher Education.
An assignment as president of Southern Utah State College gave him an opportunity to develop a love for southern Utah's rugged and colorful high desert country and to guide the college through a period of exceptional growth.
During his tenure, the college grew from a somewhat sleepy rural institution with 700 students to a thriving collection of programs with a student body of 1,200, positioning it for eventual designation this year as a university. The growth tested his determination to have a personal acquaintance with every faculty member and every student on his campus.
In 1981, he stepped into the same explosive situation at Salt Lake Community College, where everything was growing - the campus, the student body and the mission.
"I really fell in love with Salt Lake Community College," he said. His determination to limit a stay at the helm of any one institution to five years melted at the end of the fourth year when "things really started to take off." He was at the school for a total of nine years.
He talks in terms of "we." The staff, faculty, Institutional Council - even the State Board of Regents - have all had an integral part in shaping the community college, he said.
Wm. Rolfe Kerr, Utah Commissioner for Higher Education, recognizes Carnahan's leadership role, however, in SLCC's phenomenal evolution.
"President Carnahan has provided outstanding leadership to Salt Lake Community College for nearly a decade. The institution has thrived, despite the challenges of difficult economic times and expanding enrollment. Through the college's name change and mission expansion, President Carnahan also worked effectively to build a strong general education program. At the same time, he preserved its primary vocational education role."
Carnahan's staff also praises his team approach to leadership. "He's the best," said his administrative assistant, Bonnie Crippen. "I don't know how they ever found anyone as nice. He's a genuinely kind person."
Carnahan's tenure at SLCC hasn't been entirely without controversy. He took lumps for directing the construction of what the public perceived to be a home too elegant for the need. He also was criticized for a trip outside the country at the college's expense on business not directly related.
"I've been criticized for some things," he acknowledged. "Understanding usually comes later."
From his own perspective, the worst time he spent as SLCC president came when the tax initiatives of two years ago threatened cutbacks in funding for education, top to bottom, in Utah.
"I lost sleep over that. There were more `what-ifs' involved than in any other experience I've had."
If there have been some down times, there is a revival each year at commencement, said Carnahan. It all culminates and becomes worthwhile as he watches the fruits of the college's labors, including many graduates who are older, non-traditional students, some the first in their families to undertake higher education. That unique role of the community college has repaid him many times over for his efforts, he said.
Last fall, with nine years behind him at SLCC, he began to think "this might be the time," Carnahan said. "But now that it's really happening, I'm finding it harder to leave than I supposed. I find the ties are deeper and tighter than I realized. It's because of the people here. I feel the value of these relationships."
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(ADDITIONAL INFORMATION)
Carnahan's coups
During the tenure of Orville D. Carnahan as president of Salt Lake Community College, the institution experienced extensive growth. Among the highlights:
- The institution evolved from a technical center to a community college with permission to award associate of science and associate of arts degrees. The name was changed in 1987 to Salt Lake Community College, reflecting growth and expanded mission.
- Several buildings were added to the campus, including the College Center, the Business Building and a classroom/lab building at the Skills Center. Construction is now under way on an Early Childhood Development Lab School, being built with support from several private donors.
- The old South High School property was acquired, with renovation expectations soon to be complete allowing for more expansion.
- The Sandy campus was opened, with growth far outstripping expectations. Other satellite sites are planned.
- Programs have consistently been added and upgraded, and relationships with four-year institutions have been cemented.