Kirkwood trustees chair Mollenhauer retiring after 20 years

For one-third of Kirkwood Community College’s 58-year existence — spanning two-thirds of its six presidents since the college formed in 1966 — James Mollenhauer has served on the campus’ Board of Trustees, including as chair for the last seven years.

But after 20 years of service, Mollenhauer — at age 85 — officially will retire Oct. 10. The rest of the nine-member board accepted his resignation at its Thursday meeting.

“He’s really just that consummate leader,” Kirkwood President Kristie Fisher told The Gazette of her experience working with Mollenhauer — not just since becoming president last year but over the previous jobs she’s held at Kirkwood, including as vice president from 2006 to 2014.

“He’s just really a positive force and voice for the entire community college system in the state.”

When someone leaves the elected board, the process of filling his or her position on an interim basis begins with a recommendation from the Kirkwood district losing its representative. Mollenhauer told The Gazette he already suggested a successor — and the board will vote on whether to retain that person until Mollenhauer’s term expires in 2025, when he or she will have to seek re-election.

“We’ve already vetted this individual,” he said, declining to share the person’s name. “So it’s a go if the board is in favor.”

Mollenhauer — in addition to his long tenure on the board — has served as chair since 2017, making him one of just four chairs in Kirkwood history. He stepped in to lead the trustees 13 years after being elected to the board in 2004 — following an already-extensive banking and farming career.

“I wanted to be involved in something where I could give back to the community,” he said. “And that was, I thought, maybe a good way to do it.”

‘Try something new’

But before former Kirkwood trustee Robert French and former Kirkwood President Norm Nielsen called “and said they’d like to have me on the board,” Mollenhauer said his experience with the community college was minimal. He earned his degrees at Iowa State University and the graduate school of banking at the University of Wisconsin.

“I knew very little about Kirkwood, at that time,” Mollenhauer said of the start of his Kirkwood tenure. “But I was ready to try something new, as far as a challenge.”

A Marion native, Mollenhauer spent the first half of his career with Farmers State Bank and then left after 17 years to go into farming with his family. But after 14 years, the work began to wear on his body.

“I had back trouble,” he said of the problem that actually served as a catalyst for what would become a second career in board service. “The president of the bank actually elected me to the board in 1982 of Farmers State Bank.”

And, given his physical ailments, Mollenhauer decided to go back to work for the bank until 2008 — and even today remains on the bank board. That kind of community service seemed a good post-retirement plan, he said.

“And once I got my arms around Kirkwood — I still don't completely, because it's such a multifaceted college, they offer so many programs — but once I became acquainted there, I was so glad and so happy that I made that decision to become a board member,” Mollenhauer said.

Although the governing board sets Kirkwood policy and monitors its strategic initiatives and financial direction, Mollenhauer said, “We have to be careful as a board not to cross the line and get involved in day-to-day governance and management.”

Given the president is the only position the board hires, he said, “It is the most important role of a trustee — to make sure that they are involved in the presidential search and selection of the president.”

It was that presidential oversight that kept Mollenhauer on as long as he stayed — having considered retirement back in 2022, when Lori Sundberg announced her plans to retire in 2023.

“Dr. Sundberg encouraged me to stay on a little bit longer, so that she wasn't retiring, and the board chair wasn't retiring at the same time,” he said. “So I stayed on a little longer so that I could be there for Dr. Fisher, as the new president. So that would make things a little bit easier for her.”

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‘Such a treasure’

It is that commitment to Kirkwood and its betterment — over any personal wants or needs — that Fisher said she’ll remember of her work with Mollenhauer.

“He's just always been such a treasure and so supportive,” she said. “When I came on, he told me he was going to stick around for an extra year just so he could be supportive in my transition. And I really appreciated that. He has been wonderful.”

And although Kirkwood over Mollenhauer’s tenure has seen four presidents, ebbs and flows in enrollment, a devastating flood and derecho, and endless new facilities and programs, he told The Gazette the moments that will stick in his mind are the human ones.

“When we have someone come to our board meeting, or to an event, who has been a student and is getting a degree or has just received a degree and they had all kinds of uphill climbs and challenges — like, for instance, a mother that has no husband and is raising a child and or has several children … and she comes to the meeting and she's trying to get an education to get a better job so she can support her family. I tell you, at some of those meetings, I wasn't the only one that teared up in listening to some of those stories.”

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com