Greetings

With excitement and a sense of high honor, on March 12, 2007 I join Germanna Community College. This blog will serve as one means of keeping the college internal and external communities informed and involved. It will also serve as a vehicle to celebrate past, present and future accomplishments at the college and of our students. Finally, it will serve as one means for you to comment on and make suggestions about the direction of the college and the things we should celebrate together.

Linda and I move into our new home in Culpeper the week of March 5. We looked at homes from one end of the Germanna service area to the other, and it was hard to choose. We found wonderful communities, friendly people, and lovely homes wherever we looked. We both look forward to joining Germanna and to meeting members of the college faculty and staff and of the local communities.

My plan over the next several months is to make many opportunities for listening and learning: community and college forums, meetings with individuals, informal chats and gatherings. I will seek to get to know as many people as possible. I will ask faculty, staff and students two questions:
1) What are you most proud of about Germanna?
2) If you could change one thing, what would it be?

I will ask members of the communities we serve two similar questions:
1) In what ways is Germanna serving you well?
2) In what ways could Germanna serve you better?

From the answers to these questions and the conversations we have together, we will develop two lists:
1) A list celebrating the best of what we do, the success of our students, good learning and teaching, and the successes of the college.
2) A shared vision and agenda for the future.

Germanna has more than three decades of success in serving its students and local communities. I join with you in celebrating Dr. Frank Turnage's leadership and am honored to succeed him. I look forward to joining with you in continuing our success.