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New RCC president: ‘Lead by listening’ By Kevin Opsahl Jul 12, 2022 12:45 AM A A New RCC president Randy Weber stresses enrollment goals, campus community care Randy Weber walks through the RCC/SOU Higher Education Center in Medford Monday. Weber is the new president of Rogue Community College. [Jamie Lusch / Mail Tribune] Randy Weber is feeling like an Oregonian. Last month, the new president of Rogue Community College and his wife, Sasha, flew out from their native Kansas to visit their new home. The couple spent two days hiking, including Roxy Ann Peak, and took a trip to see the Southern Oregon coast, with visits to Brookings and Crescent City. “We quickly realized there are few regions in the world, let alone the country, where you can do that,” Weber said Monday. “That was what really attracted us to the next step ... getting us to a geography where we could have the experiences of coastal and mountain living. We quickly assimilated into Oregonians.” Hailing from Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas, Weber is just getting his bearings as the new president of RCC, a college boasting three Southern Oregon campuses. “I think it’s really important for the leader of an organization as comprehensive and complex as RCC to come in and make sure that I lead by listening — and make sure that I have a full understanding of what’s going on, prior to making critical decisions,” Weber said. Though many constituent meetings have yet to materialize, a few have. Weber has already met with the Rogue Valley Council of Governments, Rogue Workforce Partnership and even some “less formal” conversations with officials at Rogue Valley International-Medford Airport. RVCOG Executive Director Ann Marie Alfrey was introduced to Weber at a recent meeting of the RVCOG board. “We are very impressed,” she said. “We’re very happy to have Dr. Weber replace Kathy (Kemper-Pelle, the previous RCC president) on our board.” Alfrey is mindful that Weber likely has “a lot on his plate” and must learn the ropes of his new job before he focuses on the needs of RVCOG, but she urges him to continue “the good work RCC has been doing for years” to partner with community businesses on workforce development. “I really think he’s got a solid handle on what potential a regional community college can have on the livelihood of individuals and how diverse its purpose can be,” said Heather Stafford, chief operating officer of Rogue Workforce Partnership, the workforce investment board for Jackson and Josephine counties, which manages U.S. Department of Labor funds that go to local programs. “He comes across as very authentic and personal,” Stafford said. “The place in the community that RCC can occupy, I can see why he was chosen — you need someone who is collaborative and partnership-oriented, and he very much is.” From the listening sessions Weber has conducted already, what stands out to him is the importance of getting RCC students to finish the program they started. He cited figures showing that from 2016-17 to 2020-21, the college saw a 20% drop in students who complete their associate’s degree. But, according to Weber, there’s some good news: students who return to RCC for their second term of schooling are up several percentage points. “What we need to do is figure out, ‘How do we continue to progress them beyond (the) second term through a certificate or associate’s degree?’” Weber said. “While I may have some ideas, that’s an important part in where I need to listen and get a better understanding of what our students are facing.” While it is true that Weber is cautious about making too many decisions before he has had a chance to talk to a variety of groups, some overall visionary concepts remain. These include: enrollment, “successful deployment” of an enterprise resource planning tool, and prioritizing the needs of the people of RCC. Those concepts are the ones Weber described in town halls while he was a finalist for president. He explained how he can have several visionary planks to embark on while leaving ambiguity around some policies, which will be crafted by listening to others. “I don’t have all of the answers. … I’m too new to the role,” Weber said. “But I can say, ‘it’s important for us to stabilize enrollment.’” On the enrollment front, the new RCC president said that RCC has experienced a steeper decline over the last decade than even a lot of other community colleges nationwide. Weber blames the Almeda fire and hands-on courses that were difficult to take during the pandemic as some of the reasons for the decline, although those are two developments that occurred near the end of that decade-long period. “To stabilize it, a goal would be to have flat enrollment,” Weber said, “and then (RCC would) start to see increases.” For many community colleges, a “target” number for student population would be 2%-3% of the school’s coverage area. Considering the valley’s population, Weber said it would be ideal for RCC to have an enrollment between 6,000 to 9,000 students. In the 2020-21 school year, the latest year for which enrollment numbers were available, the school reported 6,872 students. Weber’s second priority is having an enterprise resource planning tool — something used to help students access financial aid, for example. It is also a communications vehicle for employees. After a software platform from a Florida-based company, called Anthology, was found to have bugs in the system, RCC canceled its contract with the company, leading it to refund the school $850,000. The search is now on for a new tool, which Weber said has led to proposals from the Boston-based Jenzabar and the Reston, Virginia-based Ellucion. Product demonstrations by both companies have been done for RCC officials. “We’re now at the point in the procurement process where we’re doing ‘discovery,’” Weber said. “It is expected that our team will be making a recommendation for the selected product in mid-August.” A third visionary concept for the new president is focusing on his people. The ERP is a component of that, but not entirely, Weber said. “We also have to be mindful that people have been working hard and very committed to the success of students,” he said, noting an email he sent to the campus community recently. “I said, ‘Please make sure you take care of yourselves, take care of our students and each other.’ That’s something people will hear from me over and over again – care is critical.” Reach reporter Kevin Opsahl at 541-776-4476 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @KevJourno.