New president settles into life at 'Chipmunk U'
Lisa Cochran, Interim Editor
Issue date: 10/11/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
As the new president of Kirtland, Dr. Thomas Quinn has had to make a lot of decisions and adjustments in the past few months, including getting to know people and remembering their names, creating new initiatives for the college, and finding a place to live.
"Selecting a house has been difficult," the seventh president of KCC remarked.
"It's the wild west of the housing economy here."
But finding a house wasn't as difficult as trying to find the house. After looking in Grayling, West Branch, Roscommon, Houghton Lake and Prudenville, he and his wife finally settled on one.
"We had so many choices -- on a golf course, on a lake, in a neighborhood, out in the country. We didn't know what to do," he said.
"We wanted to live in every community, but we can only live in one."
The housing market wasn't the only thing that Quinn found surprising when transitioning from southern Arkansas. In addition to different language patterns than he experienced in the South, and re-acquainting himself to the changing fall colors, he also has found a few surprises in the staff of "Chipmunk U", as he affectionately refers to KCC.
As he has gotten to know some of the faculty, administration, board, and employees in his daily trips around campus, he has discovered a diversity of skill sets and hidden talents that he hadn't anticipated.
"Everyday I get a surprise," he remarked. "The people who work here are quite impressive--quite amazing, actually."
He also is surprised by the diminished control over community colleges from the state of Michigan. With more of a "hands-off" approach then what he experienced in previous academic environments, he finds the Michigan approach to be "refreshing", allowing colleges to take the lead in the community. And that is a very important component to Dr. Quinn's future plans for KCC.
In addition to creating a process for strategic planning, strengthening the MTEC site in Gaylord, and providing more information to the Board of Trustees to help them make decisions, he would like to design new programming that would help Kirtland become a leader of economic development, building on the "strengths and economic resources of the area we serve."
Since coming to KCC in July, he has spent a "considerable amount of time" building relationships with key players in the area, getting them actively involved in creating more programs.
"Everybody says this is a very good college with a lot of opportunity," Quinn commented.
The self-proclaimed Chief Education Officer's main objective is to align KCC with the national agenda.
"We need to design a curriculum that does the best we can to educate creative, innovative grads who can compete in the global
"Selecting a house has been difficult," the seventh president of KCC remarked.
"It's the wild west of the housing economy here."
But finding a house wasn't as difficult as trying to find the house. After looking in Grayling, West Branch, Roscommon, Houghton Lake and Prudenville, he and his wife finally settled on one.
"We had so many choices -- on a golf course, on a lake, in a neighborhood, out in the country. We didn't know what to do," he said.
"We wanted to live in every community, but we can only live in one."
The housing market wasn't the only thing that Quinn found surprising when transitioning from southern Arkansas. In addition to different language patterns than he experienced in the South, and re-acquainting himself to the changing fall colors, he also has found a few surprises in the staff of "Chipmunk U", as he affectionately refers to KCC.
As he has gotten to know some of the faculty, administration, board, and employees in his daily trips around campus, he has discovered a diversity of skill sets and hidden talents that he hadn't anticipated.
"Everyday I get a surprise," he remarked. "The people who work here are quite impressive--quite amazing, actually."
He also is surprised by the diminished control over community colleges from the state of Michigan. With more of a "hands-off" approach then what he experienced in previous academic environments, he finds the Michigan approach to be "refreshing", allowing colleges to take the lead in the community. And that is a very important component to Dr. Quinn's future plans for KCC.
In addition to creating a process for strategic planning, strengthening the MTEC site in Gaylord, and providing more information to the Board of Trustees to help them make decisions, he would like to design new programming that would help Kirtland become a leader of economic development, building on the "strengths and economic resources of the area we serve."
Since coming to KCC in July, he has spent a "considerable amount of time" building relationships with key players in the area, getting them actively involved in creating more programs.
"Everybody says this is a very good college with a lot of opportunity," Quinn commented.
The self-proclaimed Chief Education Officer's main objective is to align KCC with the national agenda.
"We need to design a curriculum that does the best we can to educate creative, innovative grads who can compete in the global
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