College of the Redwoods finds new dean

Anita Janis is dean of College of the Redwoods’ Del Norte campus.(The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson)

After a three year search, College of the Redwoods has found a dean for the Del Norte campus in Anita Janis.

Janis has been in the role of dean, the top administrative position at the local campus, for three weeks now and feels it was the right decision for her.

“It was a good move for me to come here,” she said. “So many experiences and career decisions have come together in one place.”

Community colleges have been a major part of Janis’ adult life — she has worked at several in Wisconsin, Oregon and Colorado.

She has come to appreciate the role that community colleges play in a community, she said. Her goal is to figure out what type of education would benefit the community and then provide it — to help both the college and the community grow.

Not everyone is talking about growth right now due to uncertainty about the state budget. College of the Redwoods will probably be affected as a whole by budget cuts, Janis said, but students won’t be affected.

“College of the Redwoods as a big picture is pretty stable,” Janis said. “At this point we’re still OK.”

Despite the state’s situation, CR will continue to grow, she said, adding “capacity is unlimited.”

While the campus may not be large, there are online classes and distance learning and possibly classes at the high school and state prison, Janis said — all things that will be part of her job running the local campus.

She said that everyone from herself to the president and trustees want CR to offer more classes and services to students, but it’s going to take time.

“We’re all on the bus and headed in the right direction,” Janis said.

Rick Bennett, who represents Del Norte County on CR’s board of trustees, said that Janis made an excellent candidate because of her background and ideas about education, in addition to her knowledge about the area.

Janis lived in Brookings for a short time years ago, so she understands the local weather, Bennett said, which is always a plus when selecting an outsider to live in Del Norte.

“She is pleased with the area,” Bennett said, “She is very personable, everyone felt at home talking to her ... and she has very good ideas.”

Understanding the importance of community college

As the daughter of an U.S. Air Force serviceman, Janis lived on bases all over the country and in England and Germany. When her dad retired, her family settled in Milwaukee.

There she attended  Mount Mary College and received her bachelor’s degree in English/history education. Later, she got her master’s degree in education and professional development at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

After teaching junior high, she realized that she should look for work in higher education.

“I belong in the adult world,” Janis said, laughing.

Not that she doesn’t like kids, she quickly added, but she finds the enthusiasm of adult learners infectious.

“They arrive at the doorstep of community college and say, “What can I do here?’” Janis said.

A community college student body typically includes young adults stopping off on their way to a four-university, middle-aged adults who are venturing back into education and older adults who just want to take a few classes.

“Think about how we learn,” Janis said about how community colleges are in tune with the adult learning process. “Pick a path, and we’ll help you get there.”

So, when Janis saw the job opening for dean of College of the Redwoods-Del Norte she realized this was the next step along her career path.

Coming to Del Norte County

Most recently, Janis was the assistant dean of instruction at Colorado Mountain College-Alpine Campus in Steamboat Springs, Colo.

“My husband was tired of shoveling snow,” she said with a laugh.

He went on higheredjobs.com, she continued, and found several jobs for her in California.

She liked the interaction between each campus in the CR district, she said, and thought the district’s president, Jeff Marsee, was a strong leader.

She said she also liked the idea that the local college could “help the community grow” by educating people and putting them in jobs.

In the first few weeks, Janis said she has been meeting lots of people through the CR district, learning everyone’s names and what roles they play. However, she wants to get more involved in the community.

“I don’t know the players in town,” Janis said.

Taking advantage of the area

Some of her ideas for the college include developing more classes for high-schoolers and Pelican Bay State Prison employees and inmates.

At the prison, not only could CR-Del Norte train those who want to work there, but provide classes for the inmates so “they don’t go right back to the same environment,” Janis said.

“There are ways to help them make better decisions,” she said about educating prisoners who upon release can get jobs and be active members of society again.

Also, the college could work with Del Norte County Unified School District to provide more classes for high school students “on their soil,” Janis said.

But her ideas don’t stop at getting more people enrolled at the local campus — she’s considering what types of programs CR could develop that would provide more jobs for the community.

Harvesting wind and wave energy are emerging technologies — both of which could be collected right here in Del Norte.

Janis is not yet quite sure how those technologies could be used here and wants to find out “how to go about doing that.”

Sustainable technology, she said, could provide an array of jobs to a lot of people. It’s not in the college’s interest to train hundreds of people to do one thing when there are only a few jobs to be had, she added.

First though, she wants to find out what the community needs and wants — then the college can try to provide the education or training to make those needs and wants a reality.

“I need to know what the community wants,” she said, making a call out to Del Norters. “Tell us what your goal is.”