PORT ANGELES — The Peninsula College president won’t be at his desk full-time — except for the first week of the fall semester — until Jan. 1. He is working for the college elsewhere, said the school’s public information director.
Tom Keegan will be in charge of college operation through “staying in constant contact” with vice presidents, Phyllis van Holland said.
Among those will be Sandra Wall of Olympia, who will be the college’s executive vice president from Sept. 1 until Dec. 31, van Holland said on Thursday.
Keegan left soon after July 4 on vacation, van Holland said.
He will interrupt his vacation this summer for a two-week stay in Costa Rica on college business, she said.
After returning for the first week of school as the fall semester begins, Keegan will leave again to travel, working on the college’s “strategic objectives, which include globalization and environmental sustainability,” and conducting research in those areas, van Holland said.
Among his travels will be a trip to Spain.
He will research opportunities for both students and faculty members to study abroad, as well as bringing foreign instructors and students to Peninsula College, van Holland said.
Keegan will be on the Port Angeles campus, the main campus of the college which has branch sites in Port Townsend and Forks, intermittently until he returns full-time on Jan. 1.
An effort to reach Keegan on his cell phone was not successful on Thursday.
During Keegan’s absence this summer, Paula Doherty, who is vice president of institutional effectiveness, and Deborah Frazier, vice president of administrative services, are sharing responsibility, van Holland said.
In the fall, responsibility for college operations will fall to all four vice presidents — which also include Jack Huls, vice president of student services, and Bill Eaton, vice president of instruction — with Wall working with this “cabinet” as executive vice president, van Holland said.
Keegan’s absence from the campus “is not a sabbatical,” van Holland said. “He will focus on strategic planning.”
In Costa Rica, Keegan will deal with Earth University, “to explore and develop partnerships there,” she said.
Peninsula College has had a tropical biology program in Costa Rica for the last four or five years that allows students to study there during the summer, she said.
Wall had previously worked as acting vice president at Peninsula College, van Holland said, adding that she is a retired director for the Washington State Board for Community & Technical Colleges.
