Photography director quits mid-term

Nancy Jones, co-director of the Integrated Media photography program at Mt. Hood, is stepping down on May 9.

She said that she is “deeply saddened to leave” her students and that it was an “incredibly difficult decision to put my family first.”

Jones was hired for the 2013-14 school year and will see her students through their midterms. She said this is the first time she has never not completed a job.

Jones described reasons for her departure as “geography, timelines, personal, professional,” all colliding at once.

She said this is one of the “curve balls” that life throws and that you either have to know when to duck or to hit it out of the park – and she is aiming for the latter.

“There’s good things and bad things in every transition,” she said. “I’m grateful to have had the opportunity.”

She gave her students praise, too: “They’re amazing! I look forward to seeing what they will accomplish in their careers.”

Adjunct faculty will step in for Jones after May 9, to complete the term. She said she feels confident students will be in good hands. She also said her courses are front-loaded, so a lot of what they need to learn this term will already be taught by the time she leaves.

Jones said that she feels “incredibly connected” with her students and that “every single one of them knows the second that you set your fanny in the chair in one of my classes, you can contact me for the rest of your life.”