Pagotto Answers Questions at AMA

BY KAYLA VALERA | STAFF WRITER

Louise Pagotto has been the interim chancellor since May when Chancellor Leon Richards stepped down, and earlier this month, she said the school won’t start looking for a permanent chancellor until Fall 2017.

Pagotto addressed that topic and more on Nov. 9 at her bi-monthly Ask Me Anything (or AMA) collaboratives, one of the few instances that she allows time for students and faculty to answer any questions that they may have.

Pagotto also said she has yet to determine whether she would apply for the position of chancellor. The previous chancellor, Leon Richards, was the acting chancellor for two years before being named chancellor in 2007. He joined KCC as a faculty member in 1977.

Richards stepped aside as chancellor in May after a “no confidence” vote by the school faculty. The Civil Beat reported 80 percent of the academic units in the Faculty Senate voted “no confidence in and the immediate removal” of Richards.

“I have watched myself and many of my colleagues shift slowly and inexorably from professionals who joyfully engaged students, sharing our passion for the subjects we teach, to feeling like we must put our heads down, disengage and just treat our profession like a job,” wrote Sharon Rowe, a professor of philosophy in an editorial in Civil Beat. “The accompanying apathy and cynicism I felt was simply too distasteful to allow it to continue unanswered.”

John Morton, the UH vice president of community colleges, immediately promoted Pagotto from vice chancellor of academic affairs to interim chancellor.

For the past six months, Richards has been with the school in an advisory position but will officially resign on Dec. 1.

When asked what qualities make a good leader that she’s found since being an interim chancellor, she stated: “You have to be a good listener, you have to know how to engage with your constituent you have to know how to channel energies into a positive direction. You have to be able to work with multiple constituents and be able to understand their point of view. A good leader has to also be able to articulate clearly what the goals are, but also have the ability to include people in that vision so that they see themselves as part of that journey to wherever that top of the mountain is.”

The following dates are the next available AMAs until the end of the semester from 2-3 p.m. in ‘Ilima 202A: