Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – The Lincoln Land Community College (LLCC) Board of Trustees have selected Curt Oldfield to be the next president of LLCC.
With his current Spoon River College presidency set to wrap up at the end of June, Oldfield will begin his new position with LLCC at the beginning of July.
Oldfield was a guest on the WTAX Morning Newswatch. In his interview, he spoke about his time at Spoon River College and how it prepared him for this new position, what attracted him to taking the position, and also where some of the funding struggles that he sees in Illinois community colleges stem from.
“I was able to serve almost 14 years now at spoon river college, I’ll wrap that responsibility up at the end of June. You learn a lot as a community college president. That was my first presidency to have the opportunity to really be a part of some great changes at Spoon River College and learned a great deal during that time. So being able to bring that experience to Lincoln Land certainly helps. I will still have a lot to learn I am a believer in being a life-long learner. I enjoy the opportunity to be able to meet new people, see new places, and help Lincoln Land continue to have substantial impact in the Central Illinois Area.” Oldfield stated.
Being in a position with such high responsibility will definitely take some grit, however thankfully, this isn’t Oldfields first rodeo. A good question to ask would be what drives someone to want to take on that level of responsibility?
Oldfield said “I’ve always admired Lincoln Land, especially the communities that Lincoln Land represents as they always have this mindset of trying to grow and solve problems that are facing them. So, that part admired me. Lincoln Lands size of their college is really an attribute for them being at about 6,000 students which gives them a lot of potential for growth. Those two things along with following a great leader certainly made me feel at ease.”
community colleges need funding as well, and with rises in expenses, they can’t simply rely on the students alone or the backs of taxpayers to help. Despite tuitions and taxes are a big part of the funding for community colleges, what they really need is some assistance from the State of Illinois.
According to Oldfield, “Where we see funding restraints is from the State of Illinois. With the proposed budget from Governor Pritzker, Illinois community colleges state contribution will now be slightly less than what it was back in 2005. So, while we’ve had additional expenses over those over 20 years, we haven’t seen a growth in state revenue in that time”
Oldfield’s new presidency will begin July 1 of this year.
