Linda Satchwell
Staff Writer
12/2/2009

    Lisa Kelly is the new interim director of Student Services and Enrollment Management at Feather River College. That’s a mouthful, but Kelly’s bent on corralling that job title with a simple formula. Whatever she does, she asks, “How is this serving the students?”
    She is most excited about the enrollment management portion of her job. She’s charged with coming up with a strategic plan that will help student success. It looks at three areas: What does the current and future economy have to offer in terms of employment in business and industry, and what do four-year colleges and the community want from these students?
    Second: What is the current “student pipeline?” The contemporary community college’s diverse population includes single parents, single grandparents, veterans, returning students, ethnic minorities, as well as the more traditional high school graduates.
    Finally, how can FRC’s facilities, staff and resources, be integrated and changed to meet current needs?
    Kelly will create a strategic plan that takes all those elements into account to come up with a model that will best serve students in their quest for jobs; a transfer to higher education; and self-fulfillment.
    Kelly is effusive about the level of positive collaboration in the administration. President Ron Taylor is a really good leader she said, who emphasizes collaboration and always keeps student needs in the forefront.
    Kelly is a big-picture thinker, and she’s so excited about the possibilities in creating an innovative program to help students that she’s hard to contain.
    “I have a really exciting job,” said Kelly. “I feel honored to be a part of education today. I work with a dedicated, loyal group of people that is inspired by the opportunity to improve lives.”
    Kelly has always felt the community college level is more exciting than other levels of education “because it provides the opportunity to serve students who might not be able to attend four-year colleges for a variety of reasons.”
    Kelly’s experience in community college education includes coordinator of the Tahoe Education Center at Truckee Meadows Community College and coordinator of Continuing Education at Western Nevada Community College.
    She also served as site administrator and director of academics at Morrison University-Reno, Nev.
    She is involved with a variety of Plumas County organizations, as well. These include the visitor’s bureau (which she sees as having an increasingly important role as this county comes to rely more and more on travel and tourism), Plumas Charter School, Plumas Ski Club (Kelly helps coordinate the longboard races, which she terms “cultural tourism at its best”) and director of the Johnsville Junior Ski Team.
    Finally, at a recent FRC board meeting Michael Bagley, dean of instruction, welcomed Kelly and said in the four weeks she’s been on the job she is “a breath of fresh air. She has great ideas already.”