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Thursday, May 26, 2005
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CLC president resigns Joe Birmingham, college president since 2001, to accept similar post in Texas Staff Writer Joe Birmingham announced Wednesday he is resigning as president of Central Lakes College.
Birmingham, 56, has served as president of the college with campuses in Brainerd and Staples since 2001. He said he will accept a position as president of Weatherford College in Weatherford, Texas, a community college about 30 miles west of Fort Worth. While several details remain to be finalized, Birmingham said he hopes to begin his new job Aug. 1, leaving his post at CLC sometime in mid-July.
Birmingham said the Texas position is an exciting professional opportunity and one that holds great personal interest. Weatherford College is in a growing community. Enrollment at the college has doubled in the past seven years, he said. Because of high population growth extending from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the college's enrollment continues to climb, he said.
Birmingham said he and his wife, Evelyn, each has an elderly parent living in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and the move will allow them to be close enough to support them. Both Birmingham and his wife grew up in Texas. Birmingham's mother died earlier this month.
Birmingham said he has enjoyed his time at CLC and he will miss the people he's met here.
"I've truly enjoyed being at Central Lakes and the Brainerd region," said Birmingham. "It's been a wonderful experience for me."
While at CLC, Birmingham said there are several achievements he is proud of. The college achieved its 10-year accreditation from North Central Association and CLC dramatically improved procedures for assessing student learning.
Birmingham said the college expanded programs to meet the needs of students and the business community.
Examples of this are the expanded nursing program at the Brainerd campus and the heavy equipment program at the Staples campus. The college also recently gained legislative funding approval to build a $1 million music rehearsal hall at the Brainerd campus and a $5 million heavy equipment shop at the Staples campus.
The Weatherford College Board of Trustees announced Tuesday that the board selected Birmingham as the lone finalist in its search for a president. By law, the board now must wait 21 days before actually voting to hire Birmingham. The board is scheduled to vote to offer the president's contract to him at a meeting June 15, according to a news release from the Texas college.
"We cannot be happier with our choice," said Roger Grizzard, board chair of the Weatherford College Board of Trustees. "Dr. Birmingham has a proven track record of leadership in colleges much like ours in size and culture. He has shown over and over again in our personal interviews and during our site visit with him last week, that he is the right person for this job."
Birmingham was one of 55 applicants from 22 states for the Weatherford College presidential post. Before he accepted the position at CLC in 2001, Birmingham had served two years as deputy executive director at the Kansas Board of Regents in Topeka. He previously held a number of academic posts throughout his career in Kansas, Arizona and Texas before moving to Minnesota.
Birmingham said it is likely the chancellor and Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board of Trustees will select an interim president at CLC while they conduct an executive search for his permanent replacement.
JODIE TWEED can be reached at jodie.tweed@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5858.
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