(Estherville)– Scott Stokes says he’s excited and honored to become the next President at Iowa Lakes Community College. Stokes, who’s currently the Executive Dean at the Estherville campus, tells KUOO news he plans to build on that experience in his new role…
“I feel that my experience that I bring with the student services experience that I have and then the academic side of the house, the experience I have there, I just feel like I really can bring a lot to Iowa Lakes as far as being in the leadership role as President. I bring a lot of passion and energy, the just the expertise I have from a number of years being at Iowa Lakes and the different roles I’ve served in, but also the collaborative leadership style that I have. I think, you know, if we’re going to achieve great things, it takes a great team working together and I just feel like that’s one thing that I’m going to be able to do.”
Stokes says he’s proud of the history at Iowa Lakes Community College and is excited about the future…
“You know, implementing strategies to build enrollment, that’s huge. We’re going to do everything we can to hire and retain great employees. You know, great employees provide that great experience for students and a great education, so we’re going to do everything we can in that area. Continue to have great partnerships with our area high schools and businesses and look for ways to strengthen those where we can; continue to work to make sure our programs continue to be strong. We do that by having strong advisory committees. We get a ton of feedback from our business and industry partners to make sure we have the greatest, the latest technologies, that we’re providing the instruction that students need to go out and get those great jobs and meet the needs of our business and industry partners. You know, continue to monitor our program offerings, course offerings and curriculum to make sure that we’re staying up to date, like I said, with the needs that businesses and industries have. And then, you know, one of the other things is continue to make sure that we are offering courses in the format that best suits the need of our students.”
Stokes says he’ll have some big shoes to fill as he succeeds longtime president Val Newhouse. He says he’ll be working closely with her over the next few months as the transition occurs. Stokes will officially take over the leadership position July 1st.
