Board Picks Cheryl Roberts to Lead Chemeketa

Roberts will succeed Gretchen Schuette who is retiring in June.

Chemeketa students Photo by: Tim King

(SALEM, Ore. ) - Cheryl Roberts is the choice of the Chemeketa Community College Board of Education to be the next president of the college.

The board's next step is to offer the position to Roberts and, if she accepts, to arrange for her starting date at Chemeketa.

Roberts has been vice president for instruction at South Seattle Community College since 2004.

She previously held administrative positions at Seattle Central Community College, the University of Washington and Lane Community College in Eugene. She has a doctorate in educational leadership and organizational development from Seattle University.

Roberts was a finalist along with Linda Simmons, vice president of academic and student affairs at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio.

Members of the board visited the finalists' current colleges last week.

Roberts will succeed Gretchen Schuette who is retiring in June following almost six years as president of the college.

"The board had difficulty deciding between two excellent finalists," said Dan Ostlund, chairperson of the Chemeketa board of education.

"We had selected them last month following an extensive review of their applications. An advisory committee made up of students, faculty, staff, members of the community and board members reviewed all of the applications submitted for president and then conducted confidential interviews with an initial set of candidates. The committee recommended the names of three candidates for further consideration by the board members. One candidate, Joanne Truesdell, withdrew her application after she was named president of Clackamas Community College." Both finalists visited Chemeketa two weeks ago and met with students, staff, faculty and members of the community.

"The feedback we received from the forums was tremendously helpful to the board," Ostlund said. "Issues raised in the forums helped us decide where to probe for more information about the finalists."

All board members praised the two candidates.

Board member Ed Dodson, who was the only board member to visit both South Seattle and Cuyahoga community colleges last week, said, "Within a few months both of these candidates will be community college presidents."