BEND, OR -- The third and final candidate for President of Central Oregon Community College is in town. Dr. Laurie Chesley met with students, faculty and staff at the Bend campus on Wednesday, "I’ve been very impressed by the number of questions and the quality of questions." She tells KBND News she was struck by one clear theme, "That people who come here want to stay here for a long time; and that always says a lot to me about an institution. People have expressed a great deal of affection, not only for this college but for the community." She says that makes the job at COCC even more appealing. 

Dr. Chesley is currently the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs at Grand Rapids Community College in Michigan. "I bring a passion for higher education, lifelong commitment to higher education, an absolute passion for community colleges and a lot of years of experience, frankly."

She’ll visit the Prineville Campus Thursday, from 1:45-2:15, the Madras campus from 3:15-3:45, and the Redmond Campus from 4:30-5:30, in room 306 of Building Three. She says she has experience with multi-site schools; Grand Rapids Community College also has multiple locations, "The key difference is the geography. Those are not as far apart as the different sites are here. The geography is certainly much more extensive but the concept of multiple sites is not new to me."

The other two candidates, Dr. Tod Treat and Dr. Kimberlee Messina, visited separately over the last two weeks. Current President Dr. Shirley Metcalf retires in June. COCC's Board will discuss the search effort at a special meeting, Saturday morning.