It appears that IVCC has been put into a transitional phase as far as its administration is concerned.

Many administrational positions have been left vacant after many staffers have left their currents positions and others have been re situated.

The following is the current list of changes made to IVCC’s
administration in the past year:

Position Changes:

• Vice President of Learning and Student Development, Lori Scroggs, retired.
• Associate Vice President of Student Services, Tracy Morris, resigned and took a position at Illinois Central College.
• English, Math, and Education Dean, Marianne Dzik, retired.
• Humanities, Fine Arts, and Social Sciences Dean, Jeff Anderson, resigned to take another position. His position will now be filled by Brian Holloway.
• The Career and Technical Programs (Workforce Development) Dean position held by Elaine Novak was eliminated.

New Positions/Duties:

• Sue Isermann, the associate vice president for academic affairs and Ottawa Center Administrator, is now Interim Vice President for Learning & Student Development, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dean of Workforce Development, and Ottawa Center Administrator.
• Mark Gryzbowski, admissions director, will also be the Interim Associate Vice President for Student Services.
• Adam Oldaker was named interim dean of English, Math and Education division.

Jerry Corcoran, IVCC President, said the board of trustees is currently deciding which positions must be filled soon and which can remain vacant for a time.

Corcoran did speak of the vice president position specifically stating, “ We’ve posted the open vice president position and a large number of well-qualified candidates have applied. Our plan is to begin meeting top candidates soon with the goal being to have the position filled before the end of the fiscal year.”

A recent decision has been to change the Vice President for Learning and Student Development title into Vice President of Academic Affairs.

Corcoran said that despite merging Academic Affairs and Student Services in 2009, college officials had decided after Scroggs departure to re-evaluate the position’s structure.

Ultimately, they decided to separate the two as it was a more traditional model that allowed a stronger focus on each and that many other community colleges were adopting the same layout.

As to whether or not the recent position vacancies were excpected and considered normal for the college, Corcoran said he was aware that a few of these issues were going to arise.

Corcoran mentioned that Illinois’ new pension law may have caused some of the departures,

“Although the new Illinois pension law may very well save the state money, it has had the negative consequence of driving some incredibly-talented people into retirement, many of whom were not planning to leave the community college system just yet,” he said.

While Corcoran mentions that he will miss those that have left, he said he is confident that the new position holders and those remaining will guide IVCC into a positive future.