Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

PCC President Named Chair-Elect for National Community College Organization

Photos and story by James Hill

PORTLAND, Ore. – Jesus "Jess"Carreon, president of Portland Community College, Ore., and a long-time leader within the ranks of two-year colleges, has been selected chair-elect of the board of directors for the American Association of Community Colleges. Carreon was elected by AACC board members during the association’s annual meeting in Seattle, Wash. in late April. He will assume his new position July 1, and will become chair of the board July 1, 2003, serving one-year terms in each position. "I am deeply honored,"said Carreon, "by the confidence placed in me by my colleagues on the AACC board of directors, by the support of the PCC board and all my colleagues at Portland Community College. The task is awesome, the responsibility clear – we will continue to challenge the future and change lives."Carreon, who is a resident of Lake Oswego, Ore., has extensive experience, both as an educator and in the private sector. He received his associate’s degree from Grossmont College in San Diego, then completed his bachelor’s degree at San Diego State and a master’s degree from the University of California, Irvine. He earned his doctoral degree in education from the University of Southern California. Before assuming the presidency at Portland, he was superintendent/president of the Rio Hondo Community College District and president of Ventura College, both in California. Prior to focusing on his career in education, he managed a family-owned construction business.The American Association of Community Colleges represents more than 1,100 community, junior, and technical colleges nationwide. The colleges enroll more than 10 million students annually, almost half of all U.S. undergraduates. Portland Community College is the largest post-secondary institution of higher learning in Oregon, annually enrolling approximately 100,000 students in a 1,500-square-mile district in Northwest Oregon.Carreon and the board of directors of AACC will help lead the nation’s two-year colleges as they begin their second century of service and face a series of major challenges. Nationally, the colleges are experiencing their highest enrollment increases in a decade, in some instances as much as 15 percent annual growth. At PCC, enrollment has increased by more than 13 percent this year. The heightened demand occurs at a time when many state governments, including Oregon’s, have cut cutting higher education budgets in reaction to the slowed economy. "As we move headlong into the 21st century,"said Carreon, "we take note of a very different America and world – more diverse, more technical, and with an ever-growing and aging population. At one end of the population spectrum, we see a dramatic upturn in high school graduates and at the other, 75 million baby boomers moving to retirement. "For more than 100 years, community and technical colleges, ?America’s colleges,’ have supported millions of people transferring to the four-year schools to attain their BA and beyond,"Carreon said. "In the last century, community colleges were central to America’s economic vitality. In the 21st century America’s community colleges will be key to educating and training a globally competitive workforce. It is our destiny,"he said.