Vice President, Southwestern Community College Macon Campus and Institutional Development, has spent 2.5 years at SCC’s Macon Campus, 22 years at SCC.

Education: Bachelors Degree, Erskine College; MA Ed., Western Carolina University; and Ed.D. in Adult and Community College Leadership, NC State University

Family: Husband, Phil; daughter, Anne Collins; three stepsons, Phillip, Scott and Tate Haire.

We Asked:
1: How did you become interested in your profession and what brought you to your current job?
2: What do you like most about your job?
3: What do you like least about your job?
4: What is the best advice you’ve ever gotten?
5: What is your favorite leisure time activity?
6: What is the last book you’ve read/movie you’ve seen/music you’ve heard that inspired you?
7: Tell us about a person or organization in Jackson County whose work you admire?
8: What keeps you living in Jackson County?
9: Where is your favorite place in Jackson County?
10: What is your hope for the future of Jackson County?

1: In 1986 I began as Director of Resource Development for Southwestern Community College. Having had previous experience teaching in high school and in commercial property management, I discovered that I really enjoyed working in the community college environment and working with people in the community to support the students at the college.

2: I enjoy working with others to help students meet their educational goals, whether it’s graduation with an associate’s degree or getting a certification to gain or enhance employment. It is truly gratifying to see students who graduate and enter the workforce or continue their education at a senior institution. The challenges of administration, solving problems, and working with others to develop creative solutions I find rewarding. Learning and teaching are at the heart of the community college and setting the stage for that to happen is rewarding.

3: Life is too short to hate to go to work every day. In every job there are parts that we prefer not to have to do. I see those as challenges and enjoy completing them. Maintaining a positive attitude helps as I work with people to accomplish our mutual goals.

4: Listen. Mistakes happen and most all of them can be fixed.

5: I enjoy reading for pleasure, walking and hiking, traveling.

6: Reading Tom Friedman’s The World is Flat really points out how global our lives have become/are becoming. I see the impact of technology everyday with our students who are very comfortable with gaining information via the technological media. Another book I read recently was A Thousand Splendid Suns, which was a fictional account of the life of women in Afghanistan and the oppression they live with.

7: There are two individuals in our county who have made significant contributions to the community. They are Phil Haire and Cecil Groves. Of course, I know about Phil’s work in the legislature for the benefit of everyone in House District 119. He is available to his constituency, responsive to their needs, and is willing to listen to their concerns, helping where appropriate. Cecil Groves has provided the leadership not only at SCC but in the larger region to help establish a world-class fiber optic ring that puts Western North Carolina on par with any metropolitan area in the country. His vision and creativity are his strengths.

8: Having grown up in South Carolina, I moved to Western North Carolina over 30 years ago and have lived in Sylva since 1983. I love the mountains and the people who live and work here. I believe we have an obligation to be good stewards of this wonderful environment and I want to be a part of that stewardship.

9: The entire county is beautiful; I don’t have a favorite place.

10: I would like to see the county demonstrate stewardship that is sensitive to both the environment and the economic development of the county. I hope they county will work with its neighbors to do what is best for the region as a whole.