Dr. Jan Gehler selected as SCC president

Dr. Jan Gehler has been selected to become the next SCC president.

Gehler will be added to the payroll on July 1. She will be taking the place of Dr. Art DeCabooter, after his retirement at the end of June.

Gehler joins SCC from the University of Alaska Anchorage where she has served as dean of Community and Technical College from 2000 to present.

Gehler said, "I am currently working with UAA on a transition plan. Also in the next week or so, I will be talking to Chancellor Rufus Glasper to work out a tentative plan for the transition to SCC."

Glasper did a site visit to UAA with some of the hiring team menbers in March and announced Gehler as SCC's next president on March 20. The Chancellor's recommendation went to the Governing Board on March 25. "The past few days have been a bit of a whirlwind.," Gehler said. "I have kept my feelings at bay during the presidential search, but I can finally let them out. The last 48 hours, it has all become very real. I'm so excited to be coming to SCC. I think when taking the place of such a loved and respected man as Art Decabooter, I need to listen and learn from the faculty, staff and students."

Gehler also said that she is looking forward to enhancing SCC's relationship with Native American students and our community.

"I am curious of the trends in terms of enrollment," Gehler said. "I'm kind of a data nerd; I want to know why SCC's enrollment has become stagnant and what we can do to change that. I want to build and work on what's there now. Just from my short visit to the campus, I have a real sense of the dedication the faculty has for SCC."

Besides taking on the presidency, Gehler will also join the Chancellor's Executive Council.

"I am first and foremost committed to the students in all the work that we do," Gehler said at the public forum which was held on Feb. 21 at SCC. "Politics is about power and my firm belief is that you gain power by giving it away."

Gehler was one of 85 candidates who were considered by the Presidential Search Committee.

Gehler and her husband Bill have three children. Drew is currently serving in the U.S. Air Force and deployed in Turkey; Beau, 28, and daughter Geer, 25, will remain in Alaska. Jan and her family took in an exchange student from Croatia named Vanja Duric.

Gehler said, "I like to say Duric came for a year and stayed a lifetime."

Gehler received her bachelor's degree in home economics from Ohio State University, and her master's in vocational education from Oregon State University. She received her doctoral degree in education from Oregon State University in 1993.

Research assistance from Kyle Patton