LY #117 Presidential Candidate Visit #1

Monday I walked in a bit late for the all-school meeting with Dana Young, current president at Treasure Valley Community College.  I wound up standing in the back (avoiding the seats left in the front row) and eating a nice, warm fruit treat I found on the table outside the meeting room. 

TVCC Prez Dana Young, right *

Perhaps it was the snack that got me into a good mood, but my first impressions of Ms. Young were quite positive.  Here is what I liked about her presentation.

• Directness.  She was clearly making a personal sales pitch about her skills and how what she'd learned on the job at Treasure Valley would help her at COCC.  I was relieved to hear no flattery about the beauties of Central Oregon and the perfection of the lifestyle here.  Also, although I didn't myself listen closely enough to know if I'd agree, another listener noted that she had "no metaphors," by which I think that person meant she didn't represent the college as either a triangle of meaning (Jim Middleton's favorite) or a boat (Bob Barber's choice).
• Delivery style.  She spoke without notes, made lots of eye contact, used gestures, stood up straight.  In other words, she used plenty of immediacy behaviors.  These, of course, are positively correlated with positive teacher evaluations as well as positive responses from speech teachers like myself.
• Owning her history.  During the QnA, she herself brought up what Ron Hoff calls, "the burning issue."  She said, "Well, I'm surprised no one asked about the vote of no confidence."  And she told her version of the story which, if I interpreted her response correctly, was largely an issue of communication ineffectiveness.  Faculty members thought that an administrative restructuring decision had been made without their input when, in her story, the decision was simply being talked about.  
• She's not actively looking for another job.  She said that a friend had suggested that she apply for the COCC job and that this is the only place she's interviewing.   Of course this fact was part of her pitch ("Hey, you guys are special!").  Nevertheless, it does weigh in her favor.

One aspect of her current life that is problematic is that she thinks she can research and write a doctoral dissertation while on her first year of the job.  She was honest enough to share that her first proposal had been rejected.  Perhaps this was because she is a quantoid who decided to give herself the extra burden of writing a qualitative dissertation.

Oh.  Come.  On!  That is just nuckin' futz.  Qualitative is so much more work!  Unless, of course, she could propose a first person participant observation of "The First Year of a Community College President."  Now that might a rara avis among dissertations -- one that is both fun to write and to read!


*  Picture:  From left, Britney Meza-Turner, Alex Plaza, TVCC Foundation president Cathy Yasuda, Ashley Whittaker and TVCC president Dana Young.