A recent Wall Street Journal article — “Wanted: New College Presidents. Mission: Impossible” — highlights the challenges college presidents face today in what has become a very complex leadership role. Among their formidable tasks: ensuring student safety, making college affordable, advocating for legislative funding, scholarship fundraising, overseeing campus construction, developing business partnerships, finding consensus with faculty and trustee boards, promoting accreditation and transferability, improving completion rates and lastly, persuading the public that college remains a solid investment.
According to the Journal, a generation ago, most college presidents served nearly a decade in the job. Today, it is less than six years — evidence that a president’s work is more demanding than ever. The latest American College President Study from the American Council on Education confirms that presidential terms in higher education are shrinking.
Continuity of leadership generally results in stability and fruition of long-term goals for higher education institutions. We have seen this with Salt Lake Community College (SLCC), where President Deneece G. Huftalin led the college for more than 10 years, making her Utah’s longest-serving female president among the state’s public colleges and universities.
Dr. Huftalin has been a steady, firm and warm-hearted advocate for breaking down barriers and building support to increase access to education and improve completion rates for Utah’s college students. These efforts have drawn a wide variety of students to SLCC, who need an affordable path and encouragement into higher education. This is especially true for first-generation college students, which encompasses nearly half of SLCC’s student body. More than 80% of SLCC students remain in Utah to work and build Utah’s economy, which benefits all of us.
In each of our terms as chairs of SLCC’s Board of Trustees, we’ve witnessed firsthand where Dr. Huftalin has focused her efforts and their results. To note a few of them:
- Increased college affordability with SLCC Promise, which covers students’ tuition and fees when federal grants fall short. In 2014, her administration tackled the issue of expensive textbooks and turned to online resources that have saved SLCC students $24 million in textbook costs to date.
- Expanded geographic accessibility by establishing two new major learning centers: the new Herriman Campus and the Westpointe Workforce Training & Education Center. At Herriman, students can earn associate degrees from SLCC and then continue their studies at the University of Utah on the same campus. At Westpointe, students are trained in high-demand industries that allow them to quickly move into the workforce.
- Augmented SLCC’s student scholarship offerings by growing the College’s scholarship endowment from $1 million to $50 million — an astonishing feat given that financial gifts to community colleges are almost always overshadowed by their four-year counterparts.
- Established programs for low-income and first-generation students by very intentionally reaching out to underserved populations. Dr. Huftalin also restored SLCC’s Prison Education Program.
- Remained mission focused and vigorously committed to SLCC being an open-access institution for all students, irrespective of their academic background, socioeconomic status or age.
Each of us have observed Dr. Huftalin’s leadership and her great love for students. We’ve also watched her promote unity among the faculty and administrative staff and observed her empathy as she listened to students’ concerns and served as their advocate. In hundreds of discussions and scenarios, she was always first to give credit to others while leading with vision and humor. Quite simply, under her leadership, SLCC has been a transformational experience for tens of thousands of students.
Because of Dr. Huftalin’s dedication and guidance, SLCC is well positioned for a bright future. Incoming president Dr. Gregory F. Peterson will be taking the helm this summer at a college that is on a strong and healthy trajectory and ready to make an even greater impact on Utah.
Brady Southwick is the current chair of the Board of Trustees for SLCC. The other four individuals are past board chairs who each worked with President Huftalin.