Longtime CCC President, Joanne Truesdell, Announces Retirement

After a decade as president of Clackamas Community College, Joanne Truesdell announced this week her plan to retire.

At a Board of Education meeting March 8, Truesdell said her time as the college’s president would end July 2018, giving the college just more than one year to find Truesdell’s replacement.

"I want to thank the community for its constant, thoughtful and earnest support of Clackamas Community College," Truesdell said. "For the last 50-plus years, the residents of Clackamas Community have supported the college and our mission to offer high-quality education that is accessible to everyone. It has been an honor to work for you and with you."

Truesdell’s history with CCC doesn’t go back 50 years, but it’s close –– more than 30 years, anyway.

Truesdell was enrolled as a student in the early 1980s before taking over as president in 2007.

In the years between, Truesdell earned degrees from the University of Portland, and Portland State and Oregon State universities.

At PCC, Truesdell was first the director of the family resource center before taking a position as director of enrollment services, according to CCC spokeswoman Lori Hall. Later, Truesdell took positions at Chemeketa Community College in Salem as dean of student development and then executive dean.

Truesdell took over as CCC’s president just as the U.S. economy was hitting the recession, but nevertheless she persevered. Facing budgetary challenges and new guidance handed down by the state throughout her tenure, Truesdell went on to help usher the passage of a $90 million bond referendum for new buildings and equipment in November 2014. Her first attempt, a $130 million bond measure in May 2011, did not receive the voter support needed to pass.

Additionally, by integrating workforce and college services, Truesdell helped establish CCC as a partner in economic development throughout the region, earning national recognition for work around veterans' reintegration and partnering with the Clackamas Community College Foundation, which recently completed its Education That Works campaign raising more than $11 million for scholarships and innovation, Hall said in a statement.

"The Board of Education recognizes and expresses our appreciation for the immense amount of time President Truesdell has committed to CCC," Board of Education Chair Richard Oathes said. "The college has been fortunate to have a leader guiding us in these challenging times who is so dedicated, respected and tenacious."

CCC’s leadership has said it will use a firm to assist in finding the college’s next president.

Photo Courtesy: Lori Hall, Clackamas Community College