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PORTLAND, Ore. -- Portland Community College has bolstered its leadership.

Katy Ho has been named the new vice president for academic affairs, while Robert Steinmetz has been chosen as the next vice president of student affairs. Ho began her duties in July and Steinmetz starts in August.

Ho returns to PCC from Honolulu Community College (HonCC) where she has served as vice chancellor of academic affairs since 2014 after working as the college's dean of students. In this role, she was the chief academic officer and accreditation liaison for the college and oversaw student services, academic support, curriculum, and technology services. During that time, HonCC met and exceeded system performance outcomes in overall degree and certificate attainment, as well as STEM and native Hawaiian degree completion.

Ho worked at PCC from 2002 to 2012 in a number of capacities before moving to Hawaii. She started as an academic advisor and finished as the Sylvania Campus division dean of student support services. Recently, she was one of 39 community-college leaders chosen as Aspen Presidential Fellows for 2017-18 by the Aspen Institute, which cultivates leaders who can transform community colleges to achieve higher levels of success and access. Additionally, she brings a wealth of experience implementing Achieving the Dream at HonCC. This is a comprehensive national movement for equitable student success that PCC has recently joined and will implement.

Ho holds a master's degree in Student Services Administration and a doctorate in Community College Leadership from Oregon State University.

"Katy's commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and her special attention to equitable student success, is especially impressive," said Executive Vice President Sylvia Kelley, who led the hiring committee for the position. "Katy has demonstrated a deep knowledge and commitment to the unique needs and concerns of community college students, faculty, and staff."

Steinmetz has served as vice president for student affairs and Enrollment Management at Harrisburg Area Community College in Pennsylvania since 2010. There he has provided leadership and strategic direction for the institution's admissions, career and transfer services, counseling and academic advising, disability support services, financial aid and athletics, among other service lines.

Since joining the college, Steinmetz has created and guided the implementation of a strategic and comprehensive plan to improve student success, completion and enrollment. He reorganized and realigned the student affairs and enrollment management division to include a new student recruitment function, the creation of the student and academic success department, and professional advisor positions.

Before Harrisburg, Steinmetz served as associate dean for enrollment management and college registrar for Calhoun Community College in Decatur, Ala., from 2008-2010. In this role, he oversaw enrollment and recordkeeping. Before that, he was the director of recruitment, retention and enrollment services for Chattanooga State Community College in Tennessee.

In addition to an associate degree in Science from Chattanooga State, Steinmetz has a bachelor's degree in Sociology and a master's degree in Public Administration from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, as well as a doctorate in Higher Education Administration from the University of Alabama.

"Rob's credentials are impressive, as is the depth of his experience in student affairs leadership," said PCC President Mark Mitsui. "The college is in good hands having both Katy and Rob heading their respective departments and our Achieving the Dream initiative."


About Portland Community College: PCC is the largest post-secondary institution in Oregon, serving more than 78,000 full- and part-time students. PCC has four comprehensive campuses, eight education centers or areas served, and 200 community locations in the Portland metropolitan area. The PCC district encompasses a 1,500-square-mile area in northwest Oregon and offers two-year degrees, one-year certificate programs, short-term training, alternative education, pre-college courses and life-long learning.

Visit PCC news on the web at http://news.pcc.edu/

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PORTLAND, Ore. -- Two Portland Community College faculty are going to get, as they put it, "their geek on."

Instructors Linda Fergusson-Kolmes (biology) of Lake Oswego and Jenny Woodman (composition) of Southeast Portland will sail aboard the Exploration Vessel (E/V) Nautilus this August as 2017 Science Communication Fellows with the Ocean Exploration Trust (OET). Fergusson-Kolmes will join the Corps of Exploration when they visit the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary and Heceta Bank, which are off the coasts of Washington and Oregon. Woodman will board the ship for mapping and exploration of the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary near California.

As members of the Corps of Exploration, educators and students will stand watch alongside scientists and engineers. They will participate in live interactions with shore-based audiences via Nautilus Live, a 24-hour web portal bringing expeditions from the field to students and young future explorers through telepresence technology at www.nautiluslive.org and social media.

"We'll all be geeking out," Fergusson-Kolmes beamed. "We want to bring the excitement of science into the classroom. I'm hoping to get a look at a real undersea, remotely operated vehicle and talk to people while it explores. And, I can bring back what I learn to PCC and translate it for my students."

For Woodman, joining the Corps of Exploration was "like being selected to be an astronaut." She has been writing about ocean health and technologies since 2014 for IEEE Earthzine, an online publication sponsored by NASA and the Oceanic Engineering Society.

"There was singing, dancing and silliness," said Woodman when learning she had earned the Fellowship. "It was a joyful moment."

The mission of OET, a nonprofit founded by Dr. Robert Ballard (who discovered the Titanic wreck) in 2008, is centered on exploration of the ocean, while seeking new discoveries in the fields of geology, biology, maritime history, archaeology, physics and chemistry. It also strives to expand the boundaries of STEAM education and technological innovation. Selected educators and students hail from schools, universities, science centers, aquaria and non-profit organizations from 17 states in the U.S. and two Canadian provinces.

Fergusson-Kolmes, a native of British Columbia, Canada, has worked more than 10 years in the Sylvania Campus Biology Department teaching marine biology, majors biology and cell biology for health occupations.

"When I heard I was selected it felt like I was 6 years old again," said Fergusson-Kolmes. "This is a chance to do something that I've always dreamed of."

Fellows are charged with the responsibility of engaging students and the public in the wonders of ocean exploration, sharing discoveries from the 2017 mission, as well as aspects of daily life aboard a working exploration vessel. In the spring, Fellows received four days of intensive training at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography to prepare for the two to three weeks aboard E/V Nautilus. Faculty will work four shifts of four hours on, eight hours off, and four hours on between the months of May and November.

In August, the PCC community can follow the faculty's exploits live online at www.nautiluslive.org, or on Facebook and Instagram @NautilusLive, and on Twitter as @EVNautilus.

For more on PCC's Nautilus team, visit http://news.pcc.edu/2017/07/nautilus-faculty/


About Portland Community College: PCC is the largest post-secondary institution in Oregon, serving more than 78,000 full- and part-time students. PCC has four comprehensive campuses, eight education centers or areas served, and 200 community locations in the Portland metropolitan area. The PCC district encompasses a 1,500-square-mile area in northwest Oregon and offers two-year degrees, one-year certificate programs, short-term training, alternative education, pre-college courses and life-long learning.

Visit PCC news on the web at http://news.pcc.edu/