We have the rare good fortune of having two good candidates running for the open seat on the Pima Community College governing board: Mark Hanna and Michael Duran. Both would work to steer the college in a positive direction, something it sorely needs given its much-deserved bad press lately and its fight to get off probation so it can maintain its accreditation.
Of the two, Mark Hanna is the better candidate.
Both Hanna and Duran attended PCC, which means that they don’t have a helicopter view of the college. They both have a personal understanding of the students and instructors which will inform their decisions. With buildings, budgets, administrators and programs to worry about, it’s too easy to forget about the flesh and blood students who are the reason the school is there.
That being said, Hanna has a few things going for him which will make him a more effective board member than Duran. The first is time. Hanna is retired. He was a general manager for Costco who helped open stores around the country and learned what he calls the “management by walking around” style of making his stores successful. Now he has the time to give the complex task of overseeing Pima Community College the careful attention it deserves, especially during this transitional period.
Duran is a vice president at the Tucson Medical Center and already sits on a few nonprofit boards. Because of his many responsibilities, he’ll have to budget his time more carefully. Instead of going over the issues with intensity and focus, instead of “walking around” to get a sense of what’s happening at PCC on the street level, he’ll be more likely to depend on his management skills and experience — and he’s got skills and experience, no question — and rely on others to summarize the issues for him.
I saw this in two debate/forum sessions with Hanna and Duran. Both gave good answers, but Hanna had done his homework more thoroughly. He answered questions with specifics, citing relevant facts and figures to inform and illustrate the points he was making. Duran gave respectable answers which were more general and leaned heavily on his past experiences. That is likely an indication of the way the two would handle the board position.
Hanna’s other main strength is his recent experience with the high school students at Catalina Magnet High School where he was the school’s college counselor. His job was to talk with students and encourage them to seek the type of higher education which best suited their personal needs and academic strengths, then help them with the application and financial aid processes. The students walking into his office were from all over the world, and many were low income. When he sits on the board, Hanna will see their faces and hear their voices. Students will be at the forefront of his decision-making process, especially students for whom a college education will be a life changing experience — for them, their families and their future chldren. He’s sure to encourage aggressive outreach to area high schools, which will benefit the students and help PCC pick up its flagging enrollment.
Duran, along with his position as an executive at TMC, is very involved with the Southern Arizona Leadership Council. The SALC is a powerful group with a “What’s good for the business community is good for Tucson” focus. True, part of PCC’s mission is to train and educate students so they can get skilled jobs in the workforce, but I would be concerned that Duran might see the faces and hear the voices of his business colleagues as he casts his votes. I don’t think he would vote against the needs of students, but he could have a tendency to lean toward projects which will benefit his fellow SALC members.
This article appears in Oct 16-22, 2014.
How about bankruptcies Dave? Did you find anything on either of them? Were they caught wasting water?
Seriously I had gotten a personal call from a friend asking me to vote for Mr Hannah. He was highly complimentary of him.
Duran also sounds extremely qualified. Lord knows this town needs somebody with some business sense. What a breath of fresh air.
How about the judges? Does anybody know any of them?
Normally this would not invite a response. However, considering the recent problems the election of a new board member deserves priority study and research. I did do some research, questioned a few people that I knew had first-hand knowledge of PCC and for various reasons each of them endorsed Mark Hanna for the Board. I think the most important recommendation for Hanna was his “hands on” experience with the college. Helping high school students in furthering their education choices and as such his involvement with the college.
I certainly agree the business community has a stake in the college and needs representation before the board. But, rather than membership on the board they need members of the business community to be active with the business of the board with knowledge and background in various types of commercial and industrial endeavors of the community. The Community Colleges are a vital link to providing education and skill training for different employment needs and as such needs that experience and input.
Plus the comm college keeps kids from a lifetime of debt at the hands of higher learning facilities. CBS ran a special documentary on campus suicides and it does make you wonder if the debt and terrible job prospects don’t add too much pressure to a young shapeless mind.
I think this is a very thoughtful blog that carefully makes the case for why Mark Hanna should become Pima Community College’s newest Governing Board member.
There is no reason to be redundant and restate the reasons provided in this blog to elect Mark Hanna. I can only add that it is noteworthy that Mark Hanna was the only candidate to be in attendance at the PCC Governing Board’s last meeting.
I think Mark’s presence at that meeting, along with all of the other reasons cited in this blog, strongly suggests that Mark Hanna has the time and energy to be an outstanding PCC Governing Board member. For Mark, being a PCC Board member will be a continuation of his demonstrated commitment to serving students and the community.
PCC is often the only option for secondary education available to many in our community. The failure of many on the current Board to provide leadership and direction, as well as their inability or unwillingness to properly oversee the former chancellor, has put PCC in a dire position. The voters made a wise choice when they elected Sylvia Lee to the Board last time, but she needs a partner who is informed and prepared to lead.
Mark Hanna is without doubt that person. For many years, he helped hundreds of students at an inner city, high-poverty high school to gain entrance to PCC and other colleges. He also helped them to navigate the admission process and find grant/scholarship money to pay tuition. He is active in the Pima Foundation and also offers valuable private sector experience from his time with Costco.
Any institution of learning exists to serve the interests of students. Mark Hanna knows better than most what the PCC Board needs to do to better meet the needs of its learners. It is truly exciting that he has stepped forward to take on this job at a critical time in the college’s history.