PORT ANGELES — After 11 years, $120 million in improvements to the campus and a shift in academic culture, Tom Keegan said goodbye to the college he led as president at a farewell reception at the Pirate Union Building.
More than 100 people cycled through the reception — first students, then community supporters and local business people — each briefly wishing Keegan well and expressing thanks for the job he did during the past decade.
“It’s very bittersweet,” Keegan said of leaving the Peninsula College.
“When I say I love this college, I mean that.”
Keegan was selected in Oct. 12 to replace departing President Gary Tollefson at Skagit Valley College effective March 12.
During his final week at Peninsula, Keegan attended two other farewell receptions, one hosted by the college faculty and the other by area Native American tribal leaders with whom he worked to create the Peninsula College Longhouse House of Learning.
‘Overwhelmed’
“I’m overwhelmed by the respect and caring, by all the good will that came my way,” Keegan said.
Keegan also has been preparing the college for his departure.
“I’m leaving the college well-positioned,” he said.
Keeping the college’s focus on teaching and learning during the transition is a high priority, he said.
As of Friday, he had not yet cleaned out his office, choosing not to look beyond his final hours at the school.
“I’ll probably do it this weekend,” Keegan said.
On Wednesday, that office will be occupied by interim President Brinton Sprague.
Sprague, a Port Ludlow resident, most recently worked as special assistant to the president at the Lake Washington Institute of Technology in Kirkland.
He served as vice president of Skagit Valley College in 1993-1998 and was a founding vice president for Cascadia Community College in Bothell in 2000.
In 2004-2005, Sprague served as interim president at Cascadia.
Sprague will not begin Monday due to a previously scheduled out-of-town engagement, he said.
He is expected to remain at Peninsula College through June 30.
Sprague will head the college during the search for a permanent president and oversee the transition.
If no permanent president is in place by the end of June, the trustees and Sprague can agree to continue the contract.
Five presidents
Since its founding in 1961, Peninsula College has only had five presidents.
John Maier served in 1961-1975, Paul Cornaby in 1975-1992, Joyce Helens in 1992-1993, Wally Sigmar in 1993-2000 and Keegan in 2001-2012.
Nearly 75 percent of the campus was remodeled or replaced during Keegan’s tenure at the 50-year-old campus, and Keegan was noted for changes made to the school’s educational culture as well.
In 2004, Peninsula College was allowed to grant baccalaureate degrees in conjunction with other colleges.
The program was expanded in 2010, when the college was established as an independent degree-granting institution.
Capital projects included:
■ A $22 million science and technology building, built in 2007, which is now known as Keegan Hall after the Peninsula College Board of Trustees renamed “M Building” in honor of the departing president.
■ The $830,000 Longhouse, the only facility of its kind built on a college campus, which opened Oct. 15, 2007, in conjunction with the Jamestown S’Klallam, Lower Elwha Klallam, Hoh, Quileute, Makah and Port Gamble S’Klallam tribes.
■ A $14 million library and administration building, linked by a bridge that forms a formal entryway to the campus, both of which were completed in August 2008.
■ The $36 million Maier Hall, named after the founding president and opened with 61,750 square feet of space for art, math, liberal arts and music programs as well as a 130-seat performance hall.
■ Soccer fields at the Wally Sigmar Athletic Complex, which were rebuilt with artificial turf for $1.5 million and rededicated in the name of the former president.
During Keegan’s tenure, Peninsula College also located satellite campuses in buildings in Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend and expanded into a larger space in downtown Forks.
Keegan was a key player in the college being awarded $15 million in grants over six years, earned through partnerships with local industry.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
