New president focuses on student success

When Dr. Jan Gehler was young, she never imagined herself being where she is now, a long way from home and president of Scottsdale Community College.

After eight years as the dean of the Community and Technical School at the University of Alaska, Anchorage (UAA), she wondered if there was another chapter in her life.

Gehler was born and grew up in Ohio with her parents and two siblings. After she graduated from high school, Gehler attended Ohio State University to become a concert pianist.

"It didn't take me very long to realize that I just liked to play the piano," recalls Gehler. "I really wasn't interested in the pathway of the performance major, so I shifted dramatically."

She turned to education because it was a common field for women to work in.

"I felt a lot of kinship with the mission of what was then called home economics and now is called family and consumer sciences," said Gehler. "It is a very holistic degree of discipline. It had its origins in human ecology and the science of making life better for individuals."

While teaching high school, she also attended California State University. She received her master's degree and taught college classes in the graduate program at the university.

While in California, she met the love of her life, Bill Gehler. The two moved to Anchorage, Alaska and started their family. They now have four children, three of their own and one for whom they have been legal guardians since 1993.

"Our first born is Drew. He is a captain in the U.S. Air Force. Our middle son is Beau and he is a paramedic and our daughter, the youngest, is Greer. She graduated from college and is living in Alaska to save money for graduate school," Gehler said.

Vanja Duric, who was born in Croatia, is the oldest. Vanja is a son to Gehler, just like Drew and Beau are. He is a friend of a family they knew in Croatia and he came during the Bosnian War and stayed.

One night while watching the news, the Gehlers saw tanks approach Zagreb, Croatia.

"We called our friend Lajorka who lived there and asked her if we can do anything," recalls Gehler. "Two weeks later she sent her son, Sven. He stayed with us for about a year."

The war shifted from Croatia to Bosnia and Sven went home, planning to come back in the fall with his friend, Vanja.

"One night we got a call and this deep voice said, 'Well you don't know me, but I'm Sven's friend, and Sven isn't coming but can I come?' Vanja showed up on our doorstep a few months later," she said.

After Vanja arrived in the Gehler household, he excelled.

"He is the classic scientist," chuckled Gehler. "He can't remember what he is doing from one side of the room to the other. He is working on fundamentals of molecular level of pain. He is working to find a trigger mechanism that can be treated for severe pain."

While Gehler was teaching at UAA, she participated in a doctoral program, which opened the door for her to become the dean of the Community and Technical School.

After eight years as the dean, she was happy with the way her life was. She had a great job and worked with an amazing staff. As senior dean, Gehler was asked by the chancellor to step in for the provost during the provost's absence.

"I had a great year," she recalls. "After a year, I went back to my dean's position at the college. Like that old phenomena, it's tough sometimes to go back and it's not a reflection on anybody or anything other than it's just tough to go back to your old neighborhood. The question was did I have one more leap left?"

And she did. She leaped at the available presidential SCC position in 2008. Gehler started the long journey to her soon-to-be home in Scottsdale.

A year has gone by since she accepted the position.

"I expected the quality that I've come to discover here, but I continue to be surprised in a pleasant way," said Gehler.

Dr. Daniel Corr and Carl Couch were asked by the chancellor to be on the search committee for the new president. From day one they were impressed with everything that Gehler had to offer the college.

"She was my preferred candidate," said Corr. "She has the appropriate communication style and the appropriate respect for everyone's role here."

Gehler had big shoes to fill, following Dr. Art DeCabooter's 30 years as SCC's president.

"I am very impressed with Gehler," said Couch. "Part of Dr. DeCabooter's legacy really related to his care and commitments to us as individuals in a very human approach. What struck me about Dr. Gehler is that she's definitely a different person than Dr. DeCabooter, but those underlined concerns for people as individuals really were evident."

Gehler hopes to leave things a little bit better than she found them.

"Dr. Gehler expressed a concern and interest in making sure that our student population and our faculty and our staff represents the diversity of the community," said Corr. "Particularly our unique situation, sitting here on the Pima Maricopa Reservation. She has shown tremendous leadership there."

Gehler hopes to accomplish everything she can to better the community and the college.

"I hope to help address issues related to women, but especially young girls and education. While there are many challenges in our country, I am especially concerned about the fact that over 50 percent of women in the world still are property, still have terrible things done to them and are treated in horrible ways," explained Gehler.

"She is committed, talented and concerned about students success," said Corr. "She also has a great sense of humor and is as smart as a whip. I love working with her. I enjoy her personality, her sense of humor. I enjoy the fact that she empowers me to take chances to go out on a limb to be innovative."