Page 50 - Southern Oregon Magazine Summer 2021

neck of the woods | prof ile

There’s just a sense of camaraderie here. After living in the
Greater Houston area for 20 years, I didn’t feel that sense of
place in a big metropolitan area.

Q: WHAT DO YOU KNOW FOR SURE? WHAT’S CLEARER
TO YOU NOW?

CATHY: As a result of COVID, it’s clearer to me now how resilient
we can be. My generation, unlike my parents, have not experienced a
major depression, or a world war. I remember the stories my parents
told about the depression and just how little they had. This pandemic
pales in comparison. My mother was raised in extreme poverty. My
grandfather was a coal miner and they moved town to town, look-
ing for work. My grandmother did laundry to make ends meet. Had I
stayed in my hometown I would probably be living in poverty. I know
for me and my siblings, education was the key to improving our lives.

Q: WHO SERVES AS YOUR INSPIRATION?

CATHY: My older siblings have been very inspirational to me because
we all grew up in very, very modest surroundings. My parents were
first in their families to finish high school. They both wanted to go
to college, but in the middle of the Depression, that was not going
to happen. Because of their hunger for a college degree, they really
emphasized education to us. My dad was a mailman, but he served on
the school board because he was very committed to making sure we all
got a good education. Watching my older siblings go to college and be
successful inspired me. “If they can do it, I can do it too.”

Q: WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE?

CATHY: I believe if we’re fortunate enough to be successful, we need
to find some way to pass that on to others. Through my job leading at
Rogue Community College, I feel like I’m doing that. But I’m wor-
ried about the lack of leaders to run our community colleges. There
are a lot of people retiring and not many people in the wings to fill
those positions. I’ve started actively teaching in Dr. John Roueche’s
community college leadership program. We’ll be doing site visits to
other colleges, meeting with their leadership teams and learning how
those colleges operate. You get to see that leaders don’t all look alike.
There are a variety of people and personalities who become leaders.
There’s no one formula. Every college has its own unique personality
and needs its own special type of leader. You have to find that right fit.
I was very, very fortunate to find that at Rogue.

48 www.southernoregonmagazine.com | summer 2021