Kirkwood Community College President Mick Starcevich plans to retire in June 2018

CEDAR RAPIDS - Over the past 14 years, Mick Starcevich has overseen Kirkwood Community College's building of a huge wind turbine, construction of a 71-room hotel and development of four regional centers while driving up graduation and retention rates and student scholarship funds.

But in June 2018, Starcevich, who turns 70 this year, will retire from his role at the helm of Eastern Iowa's biggest community college, which opened more than 50 years ago in Cedar Rapids and today serves more than 20,000 students annually.

Starcevich made the announcement Tuesday before a room full of mostly faculty and staff, saying the time is right.

'I feel Kirkwood is well-positioned for the future,” he said. 'Rest assured, we will keep charging ahead for the next 18 months.”

Although Starcevich didn't outline those plans during his speech, he told The Gazette afterward that he'll develop a new master facilities proposal aimed at renovating and rejuvenating some aspects of the 885-acre Cedar Rapids campus, which hosts 27 buildings totaling 1.65 million square feet of 'learning space.”

That likely will include upgrades to the veterinary technician suites, the auto body facilities and a new 'student gathering center.” He said Kirkwood's Iowa City campus also would see improvements.

The goal, Starcevich said, is to ask voters later this year to approve a bond issue extension.

Voters in a seven-county region first approved a 10-year bond period in 2005, then extended it another 15 years in 2011.

The measure generates 20 cents per $1,000 of taxable property valuation - costing about $9.60 a year for the owner of a $100,000 home - to pay off the bond sales.

Starcevich said Kirkwood likely will ask voters to extend the issue four to six more years.

'There would be no tax increase,” he said. 'It would be the same tax rate.”

Managing Kirkwood's physical growth while maintaining educational excellence amid floundering state support has been something Starcevich said he's become accustomed to since being named Kirkwood president in November 2004.

'They are looking at a de-appropriation right now, which would kill us,” Starcevich said, adding, 'It would challenge us to take some action.”

Of the $8.7 million Gov. Terry Branstad has proposed taking back from community colleges in the current budget year - which is half over - $1.4 million would come from Kirkwood, Starcevich said.

'We got a minimal amount (of an increase) this year, zero the year before, and so we're in a trend now where we've got to look at alternative funding sources,” he said. 'That's one thing we're very good at - because you don't want to put everything on the backs of your students.”

Although Starcevich said he's gained experience managing budget cuts and dwindling state support, 'We need to make everybody understand how important community colleges are to Iowa.” He cited Branstad's 'Future Ready Iowa” program, which aims to build the state's talent pipeline by increasing educational and training attainment.

He told The Gazette the budget reductions didn't affect his decision to retire - something he said he's been considering two to three years.

'I've got an unbelievable grandson and family here, and so it's time to experience something other than work all the time,” Starcevich said.

Highs and lows

Kirkwood board of trustees Chair Lois Bartelme cited Starcevich's experience and guidance through budget challenges among the losses the institution will experience when he leaves.

'It seemed like we had many, many years ahead of us and they have gone so fast, they have been so full, and I have to thank him for his fabulous leadership,” Bartelme said. Among the accomplishments:

' Kirkwood debuted a teaching hotel in 2010, offering 71 rooms and opportunities for students to get training in hospitality, customer service and culinary arts.

' It commissioned a 407-foot-tall wind turbine and solar panels on campus that in 2012 began generating power, saving nearly $400,000 a year in energy costs and providing training for students.

' In recent years, with the help of taxpayers, Kirkwood rolled out four regional centers aimed at partnering with area K-12 school districts in making college and training more accessible and affordable to rural and urban populations.

' Kirkwood, since 2005, has seen its total dollar amount for scholarships jump from $740,000 a year to nearly $3.1 million annually.

Starcevich, who served as superintendent of the College Community School District for about a decade before coming to Kirkwood, also faced controversy during his presidential tenure.

Last year at this time, he came under scrutiny for plagiarizing a portion of comments he made during a Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Day event. He apologized for failing to properly attribute a story he told as his own, and the trustees reprimanded him and put a letter in his file.

Finding a new president

Bartelme said Kirkwood plans to ask Larry Ebbers, Iowa State University professor emeritus of higher education, to provide consulting services for its search.

She said the school would form an eight- to 10-person committee to search nationally.

Once the group picks three or four finalists - which Bartelme expects by fall - Kirkwood will invite the candidates to public forums.

Catherine Schaff-Stump, president of the Kirkwood Faculty Association, said she hopes a replacement has community college experience but is open to an unconventional candidate.

'The community college is often a hotbed of innovation. Here we do things like build two-year hotels and windmills. So we are more likely to be interested in a candidate that maybe is not as traditional,” she said. 'At the same time, we really want someone who knows how to do things at a community college like Kirkwood.”