Derr brings back the sparkle

After 11 years spent in America’s heartland, MHCC President Debbie Derr has returned to familiar ground.

“This is truly coming home, not just home to my family, but home to Mt. Hood,” the newly hired campus leader said in an extended interview with The Advocate.

Derr was raised and began her career in Oregon. She worked at MHCC for 15 years and held several positions, including Vice President for Student Development and Services, before she departed in 2002.

Most recently, she was president of North Iowa Community College the past five years before assuming her new role at MHCC in July. Before that, she was Vice President for Learner Success at Madison College, in Madison, Wisc.

Derr explained that she left Mt. Hood to expand her horizons professionally, which should benefit the school now: “I feel I have far more to give the institution than if I had stayed here those 11 years,” she said.

On the personal side, her move to the Midwest also was driven by the need for her son to have ice during winter on which to play hockey, she added.

Derr’s three adult children all live in or near Portland and her many relatives remain in Oregon, helping to fuel a desire to return. When the MHCC position became open, she jumped at the chance.

“A couple things brought me back. One is I had decided I wanted to be a (college) president when I grew up and I’m pretty grown up now,” she said. “Secondly, I have a real loyalty to Mt. Hood. I always have.”

With faculty and students flocking to campus this month, Derr has made the rounds to introduce herself. Several MHCC faculty and staff members remember her well and have gladly welcomed her back, meanwhile.

Spanish intructor Aurora Benenati said, “My feelings about her leadership were positive before and I just feel the same way now,” after Derr’s speech to assembled faculty members on Wednesday.

“She always had a very positive attitude, a warm smile, and I knew that she was very effective, knew how to set limits and had a lot of leadership,” Benenati said.

Derr, 57, will be paid $177,000 during the first year of a three-year contract.

She is Mt. Hood’s 10th president since its inception, and its first woman leader. She succeeds Michael Hay, who stepped aside in June after two years as president.

It’s been an incredible journey to land at the Gresham campus again, Derr said.

“Coming back and being in this office, it’s just… I have to pinch myself sometimes, because it’s just absolutely something I never could have dreamed would happen.”

Now that she is home, Derr said, “I’m not going anywhere. You guys are stuck with me!” She plans to retire from MHCC eventually, but, for right now, she said she is having too much fun.

As president, Derr plans to accomplish what the Mt. Hood District Board hired her to do, to “really support the team that is here, to provide consistency and to let people know that I’m a sure thing,” she said.

Derr said promoting students’ success and their degree/certificate completion is at the top of her priorities, as is helping each student achieve his or her own version of success. She also wants Mt. Hood to become a financially healthy institution.

“A lot of folks say they want the sparkle back on the diamond,” said Derr, who said she intends to bring it back.

“It’s important that people who are here, students, faculty, staff, are happy… and really want to be here and recognize and talk about what a wonderful place this is,” she said. “There are amazing things going on here every day.”

Derr said the Gresham-east Portland community’s demographic evolution over the last 10 years has provided a special opportunity for MHCC– to become “a leader in workforce development, economic development, to provide so many first generation students the opportunity to go to school.

“We have a responsibility as a community college to have a breadth of academic offerings,” she said. “The more we look at the reality of the job market and who employers are hiring, those specialized degrees can become even more important.”

Engaging the neighboring community is a key objective for Derr, who wishes to create a safe, welcoming environment.

Derr lists two vibrant places on campus she particularly enjoys: the Student Union and the Aquatic Center.

She feels the Aquatic Center “serves the community. We’re teaching a life skill,” she said. “It’s sort of a microcosm of what we do,” and the Student Union is a favorite spot because, “students are there, they’re engaged, they’re sleeping sometimes and that’s okay!”

When she’s not on campus wearing her president’s shoes, Derr loves to garden, spend time with her family and to be “doing crazy things like hiking and getting stung by wasps!” she said, showing off some recent stings. “I love the outdoors and there’s no place like home to be able to go hiking and camping and fishing.”

“I feel very, very lucky and very fortunate to have the opportunity to be back at Mt. Hood. It’s wonderful to get up in the morning and know you’re coming to a place that makes such a difference in so many people’s lives,” she said.

“It’s been just a wonderful journey.”