COLLEGE PRESIDENT WANTS TO HEAR YOUR VOICE

With a passion for collaboration and shared visions, Lisa Skari is beginning her first year as Mt. Hood’s president with goals of listening and learning from as many voices as possible around campus.

In early July, Skari officially made the move to Oregon from her Seattle home. She and her husband now have a place out in Sandy, with enough property to keep them busy with cleaning up blackberry bushes and planning Skari’s dream garden for next year.

“I was originally from Montana and grew up on a farm, and then kind of migrated west over the years, so I love the outdoors,” she said of her new home.

Becoming a college president was definitely not a childhood dream for Skari, she said. “When I was really little, I wanted to be a gymnast, and quickly found out that my lack of grace and my height just wasn’t going to let that happen.”

Photo by Megan Phelps / the Advocate

Then, in high school, she wanted to be an accountant.

“The two things I said I never wanted to do were education and politics because that was my family experience, but here I am – education and politics,” she explained, with a laugh.

Skari earned her bachelor’s degree in clothing and textiles at Washington State University (WSU); her master’s of Business Administration at Pacific Lutheran University; and her doctorate degree in education at WSU.

Upon earning her bachelor’s degree, she worked in business for seven years. After her master’s, she became a part-time faculty member at Highline Community College near Seattle, and continued working her way up the ladder from there.

“I’ve been in the community college system for 22 years in various roles,” said Skari.

She created a centralized internship program at Highline, worked on budgeting for a few years, and then moved into the role of institutional advancement.

“I created a division with all the policy stuff and administrative things that went into it, hired the team, and then just really for 17 years moved it forward,” she said.

‘Bold’ leadership style

For her last year-and-a-half at Highline, the college president was out on medical leave, so the vice presidents stepped up to help fill that role. While Skari said she wasn’t president-in-name, she “took over work with the board, legislative issues, funding, and got some broader experience in the role.”

Now at Mt. Hood since July, Skari’s first-year plan includes a lot of listening and assessments.

“Her leadership style is bold, innovative, inclusive, respectful and thoughtful,” said Diane McKeel, chair of the MHCC District Board of Education that selected Skari from among several candidates for the college’s top job. “We look forward to working with her as we advance opportunities for our students, faculty, staff, and community.”

Skari wants to understand campus culture, get a feel for the initiatives that are already underway, and figure out what makes the most sense and what is most important to the college in moving forward.

She listed her top three priorities as student success, employee satisfaction, and community engagement. She will focus on making sure that students succeed with little-to-no barriers; that employees have the freedom to do the best at their job; and that students can fill needs in businesses and industries in the surrounding community.

“I’ve always been a collaborator,” said Skari. “ I know where I want to get, but I don’t know how we’re going to get there because that’s going to take a lot of people and a lot of voices – what makes the most sense, and what’s going to be most successful.”

Seeks student input

The new president has been working on formally and informally trying to hear from as many people on campus as possible by sitting in on department meetings, inviting people to come talk with her, and working with Associated Student Government (ASG) to figure out ways to connect with students.

An idea in the works is “pizza with the president,” so in exchange for pizza, Skari can hear what’s important to the students.

“You gotta talk to me and tell me the things that are important to you, and just try to create that dialogue, so I can make sure we’ve got the student voice, and the student voice is being heard.”

Students can also speak up through student clubs and organizations, such as the ASG or the Advocate, or at monthly MHCC District board meetings held on campus.

Aside from listening, other assessments are being made on college needs such as structuring, budgets, personnel, and overall operations.

“This – again – needs to be our plan. It’s not just my plan,” said Skari.

So far, she’s been energized by her time as Mt. Hood’s leader.

“I really do love what I do, and I think with that even on the bad days I can think about the work and how lucky I am to get to do this work, so that’s motivating in itself,” she said.

Advocate Staff