Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Charles Nwankwo talks to the crowd during his public interview Thursday afternoon at Clovis Community College.
CLOVIS - Charles Nwankwo thinks the most important part of being a community college is to be a part of the community.
Nwankwo said there's much to learn about Clovis and New Mexico, but he hopes to become a part of those communities after spending time interviewing on the Clovis campus.
Nwankwo is currently vice president of technology and business partnership at Chandler Gilbert Community College in Arizona. He said he has over 24 years of experience across three community colleges.
"I'm an immigrant to this wonderful country and first came here to go to school, but as it turns out, life got in the way and I had to start working," Nwankwo said. "I worked all kinds of jobs, but I realized I needed to get back to school as soon as I could. So I went back to community college and that sent me on a path to get my doctorate from the University of Texas."
Nwankwo is one of the five finalists for CCC president and had a public interview Thursday afternoon. The candidate selected will succeed Becky Rowley, who left in June for the president's position at Santa Fe Community College.
Nwankwo took questions from the audience members in a jovial fashion, often noting he'd need some time as president to learn more about the community and its needs.
When asked how the CCC president could get involved with discussion in New Mexico legislation about encouraging economic development and workforce training, Nwankwo said that being a part of the community is key, from finding out the needs of new businesses to working with K-12 schools to make sure students have access to programs like dual enrollment.
"We are so integral to the community, both in terms of economy, life and religion. The college president has to be there and take a roll in presenting to the community, at the state level and even nationally if need be," Nwankwo said. "The president must be on as many boards as possible to talk about these things. If you're not on the board, then maybe they won't even remember you."
Nwankwo said he represents his current college at the local chamber of commerce and is a part of different committees in all four of the cities his college serves. He did the same when he worked at SOWELA Technical Community College in Louisiana and hopes to continue the trend at CCC.
When asked about retaining enrollment, Nwankwo said no matter what college a student goes to, sometimes life will intrude and things may not work out. In those cases, he wants to make sure they know they'll always be welcome at their local community college.
"You are the center of art, the center of training and the center of life in this community," Nwankwo said. "If you took the college out of this community, there would be a void."
Nwankwo said CCC would be a perfect fit for him.
"You said you wanted a visionary who will be proactive and be somebody you can trust with experience in the workforce, on the academic side and with partnerships," Nwankwo said. "I saw that and thought to myself you were talking about me and I wanted to apply."
