Our people: Career in education

Robin Kuykendall currently serves as vice president of enrollment management and student affairs at Clovis Community College, and as a part-time instructor.

For part of 2019, she served as interim president of CCC, between the presidencies of Becky Rowley and the college's most recent president, Charles Nwankwo.

Kuykendall was at the time director of extended learning and division chair for occupational technology at CCC.

Her career at CCC began 23 years ago, when, with a fresh Master of Business Administration degree, she accepted a full-time faculty position.

While even her Ph.D from Grand Canyon University in Organizational and Developmental Leadership is not technically in an educational field, Kuykendall was drawn to education as an undergraduate business student at Eastern New Mexico University.

After working as a full-time faculty member in business at CCC for 11 years, she began her administrative career, which has culminated with her current title.

She answered questions about her career and herself in an interview Thursday with The News. Here are our questions and her responses.

Q. According to your bio, you started out as a business major. What did you envision yourself doing then?

A. My bachelors was in business administration and marketing, that was the direction in which I thought I wanted to go. As soon as I completed my bachelors' I went on for my MBA at Eastern.

Q. And then you discovered education?

A. After I got my MBA, I saw a job advertised for a business instructor at Clovis Community College. I applied for it and got it, and that was 23 years ago.

Before that, I worked as a secretary at ENMU and I loved the education environment, and so it was something I had already become accustomed to in a completely different role, but I already knew I loved the helping students aspect of it.

Q. At CCC board meetings, it seems that you enjoy your job.

A. I do love my job. I think the people are what I love the most. Not only the people I work with, but also the students. I get to see their educational journey. I watch them turn into something more than they were when they got here. Being a part of that and knowing that you're helping to make a difference in their lives is a great feeling. It's very addictive.

Q. What's your favorite part of the job?

A. My favorite part is talking to students when they've come back, after they graduated, and they share their stories of where they are and what they're doing now. Just seeing that transformation in them, their successes, that's my favorite part. That's because you know you had a small part in that process of their being successful.

Q.

And you still teach?

A. I teach macroeconomics and microeconomics. (Macroeconomics is the study of economics of countries and governments. Microeconomics studies individual and business decisions.) In microeconomics, there is more math and the "micro" component. Economics is woven into everything we do, every day. Helping students see that and showing them how it applies to their daily lives is a great thing.

I started out in teaching and that's still a passion of mine. I have a passion for economics and it's a way to stay connected to the classroom and still do something I love, which is economics.

Q. Have you always lived in Roosevelt and Curry Counties?

A. I grew up in Roswell. We moved there when I was nine. I graduated from high school there and met and married my husband there. When I got my bachelor's at Eastern and entered graduate school for a Master of Business Administration degree, we moved to Portales. When I finished my master's, we moved to Clovis.

Q. What do you like about Clovis?

A. It's a community feeling. It was a great place to raise our boys. Everyone is like a family in Clovis.

Q. CCC is currently in transition. What have you done to prepare for this transition?

A. I think the biggest thing is to provide strong leadership for our team and the supportive and collaborative component. Our administrators work very well together, and I think that's probably the best thing we have going for us.

Q. You often have project managers in your areas present to the CCC board to share the spotlight. Is that something you believe in?

A. Absolutely. I want to make sure that individuals who are I charge of those programs are highlighted. They're the crux of what we do. I want to make sure they're part of that process. We have a lot of expertise here.

Q. How are you involved in the community?

A. I'm on the Eastern Area Workforce Development Board, and the One-Stop committee. (One-stop delivery systems bring together workforce development, educational, and other human resource services into a network). I also serve on the Clovis MainStreet board and the Clovis Municipal Schools foundation board.

Q. What do you like to do when you're not working?

A. I love running and anything to do with the outdoors, especially hiking and camping. I don't run races anymore, I run from 10 to 18 miles a week on a treadmill. We get the whole family involved in our outdoor activities.

Q. And what about the family?

A. We have two boys. The older one, Derik, is stationed at Fort Campbell in Kentucky. He's a Chinook (helicopter) pilot. My younger sone is Cam. He's an EMT and firefighter in Clovis. My husband Todd works for Clovis Municipal Schools, but he works here at CCC. He teaches science in the Early College High School here.