Like Mary Poppins, Interim Superintendent Denise Whittaker floated into Southwestern College bringing almost magical changes, hope and healing. But the winds have changed and Whittaker is leaving an SWC that must face the future on shaky, new legs and a newfound confidence.
An unexpected mess
It took 10 days for the governing board to decide Whittaker was the one for the job. She was initially contacted in November 2010 about the interim position but did not hear officially from the college until January.
“I interviewed by phone in mid-January and then a couple days later they flew me out to do an interview with the board,” said Whittaker.
After a year taking care of family matters in South Carolina, Whittaker packed her bags and headed for Chula Vista. She said she knew there were accreditation problems and there had been difficulties with the previous administration, but she had no idea what she was getting into.
“I knew that there were issues, I didn’t quite know the severity of the issues,” said Whittaker. “This is probably the hardest job I’ve ever had.”
But academic probation and a desperate need for internal reform were not as intimidating as the emotional damage shadowing the college, said Whittaker.
“The easy part of any job is just the mechanics,” she said. “The hard part is healing a damaged environment. That I was totally unprepared for. It complicates everything you do because it actually puts a shell around all the work you need to do. It’s like if you break your arm, you need to put it in a cast. The healing can’t occur unless it’s stable. It’s kind of the same situation that you have to go through in any people environment. You have to provide stability.”
Academic Senate President Angelina Stuart said Whittaker’s clean slate and healing approach to SWC was exactly what the college needed.
“Since we had had a more detached type of leadership before, I didn’t know what to expect, really, but I wasn’t expecting that it would be so easy to work with a superintendent/president,” said Stuart. “Denise brought with her no preconceived ideas about what our college was and, in fact, was willing to learn about us quickly in order to serve our community well.”
Whittaker’s work extended beyond restoring accreditation. Stuart said Whittaker revived the constructive energies of campus constituents as she pieced back together the Shared Consultation Committee and restored authority to the Academic Senate.
“The positive outlook was palpable and hope for our college was rekindled,” she said. “Placing the SCC back to its rightful spot of importance and input was key in restoring faith and trust from all constituencies. In addition, the Academic Senate was provided its rights for those items that are academic and professional matters, as set out in Policy & Procedures 2515. This had an enormous impact in improving campus climate and in strengthening our shared planning and decision-making.”
Collaboration leads to changes
Whittaker had help rebuilding the college. None of the accomplishments of the last year would have taken place, she said, had it not been for the college and community.
“The college has to take credit for this, and I believe that heart and soul,” she said. “I’ve never worked where there are so many interested students in what’s going on and the student commitment has been just phenomenal. It’s just been wonderful.”
Whittaker said that the quality of the people made the job easier.
“What surprised me most about Southwestern were actually two things,” she said. “One was the amount of internal passion about this institution, the quality of instruction and the dedication of the students. It’s extraordinary. It is not just a job. There is something unique that is going on here internally that is more than a job. The second aspect was its role in the community and the community’s obsession — and that’s a positive obsession — with interest in what’s going on in their college and that doesn’t happen in most community colleges. People eat, sleep and drink in the community what happens in this college. I didn’t know it would be that way.”
This is not to say that it was easy, said Whittaker. There were things she wish she had been able to do at SWC that she was unable to, she said.
“I was so focused on accreditation I restricted my exposure because there was so much at stake,” said Whittaker. “There’s a loss when you don’t have the opportunity to really visit all the areas and get more connected with all the people. The amount of operational things that needed to be addressed were pretty profound and it was trading the luxury of going out and visiting classrooms and attending more events, reaching out to the community.”
Whittaker said she knew the challenges and the responsibility of preparing the college for a full-time superintendent/president.
“I probably would have preferred to do things differently, but that’s not really the job of the interim,” she said.
Time to say goodbye
As the tumultuous year began to wind down and it came time to say goodbye, Whittaker said she had second thoughts.
“The college has pulled at my heart and there was unfinished business that I thought I could be effective in helping them take the next steps for complete healing,” she said. “I think the combination of the passion and the community interest just tugged at me and made me think twice.”
Whittaker said she wanted to make sure SWC was left in good hands.
“It was sort of as a back up,” said Whittaker. “If they didn’t have the applicant pool they wanted then I was a pretty good second choice.”
Although her application had originally been submitted as a safety net, Whittaker said once she put her hat in the ring, her heart and hopes followed it. It was difficult for her when the governing board selected another candidate, though Whittaker graciousness following the selection of Dr. Melinda Nish as the next permanent superintendent. Nish is Whittaker’s protégée whom Whittaker speaks highly of.
“Once I had made the leap…I was disappointed for me,” she said. “I’m not disappointed for Melinda and I’m certainly not disappointed for the college. I think we would have had a good run at it. There’s healing to be done still and it was selfish on my part to want to be part of continuing this for the next couple of years. Then here we get it all perfect and the new person comes in and hasn’t experienced what we’ve gone through. The new person should be part of the healing. So I understand it logically.”
In January Whittaker will begin a year-long term as interim superintendent of Palo Verde Community College in Blythe. She said she will take with her the struggles she overcame here.
“One of the things I’ve learned is to maintain calmness in the midst of what appears to be chaos,” said Whittaker. “There was a lot of blind trust. I remember with many groups saying I know we don’t know what the next step is. I know we’ve never done a snap shot report before, I know we’ve never done a full program review before or a full strategic plan. And while you’re going through it you don’t really know what the next step is. ‘But trust me.’”
Whittaker said learning how to overcome those obstacles with SWC was enlightening and encouraging.
“All of a sudden we get through it and we look backwards and we go ‘we really did it’,” she said. “You can have blind trust without panic and kind of a comforting that it’s okay and you’ll get through this.”
Edifice of time
There is still healing that needs to be done, said Whittaker. Foundations have been laid for that, she said, including a new governing board and a strong presence of senior leadership in the shared consultation process.
“A governing board that is attentive to the needs of the institution is significant,” said Whittaker. “That is the start, or the continuation really, of the healing process.”
But Whittaker said there is only one real answer.
“Time is the only thing that heals,” she said. “You have to be able to trust that a setback isn’t the end of the world.”
The extraordinary
As Whittaker prepares to leave, much like Mary Poppins, a deep sense of gratitude, and underlying fondness and a touch of sadness for those she is leaving behind cloud her departure.
“Every day is sad for me because I know it will be the last,” she said. “People underestimate what’s been given back to me. It’s actually overwhelming. It’s overwhelming joy. It feels odd to have that much come back to me. Even through all the difficulties it’s been joyful. It’s been a life-changing experience for me.”
But Whittaker said her greatest achievement as SWC was embedding hope in the college and that will not leave when she does.
“At one of the first summits we had last spring we were all talking about where we were with accreditation,” she said. “And at the end of the summer — I wasn’t ready for it, I didn’t see it coming — people expressed a side effect of the gathering. The side effect of the gathering was a reuniting of family and the reestablishing of hope. And I think that we aren’t done here. Things aren’t finished, but I think my greatest accomplishment has been the reestablishment of incredible hope.”
Whittaker said she has never worked in a place quite like SWC.
“This has been the hardest departure I’ve ever had to make.”