The Navajo County Community College District Governing Board has reluctantly accepted a request from Northland Pioneer College President Dr. Jeanne Swarthout to retire at the end of June 2018. The announcement came at the end of the board’s regular monthly meeting held Oct. 18 in Holbrook.
“Dr. Swarthout has brought about numerous accomplishments through her steadfast devotion to NPC, both within our local communities and as a recognized leader, supporter and defender of Arizona’s community colleges with our state legislature,” said Ginny Handorf, chair of the governing board.
“Since she has thoughtfully provided us with a sufficient time period, the board has committed to initiate a formal search for a new president, the process to be more clearly defined in early 2017.”
Swarthout became NPC’s seventh president in May 2007, after serving as the college’s dean of liberal arts and vice president for instruction/learning since 2001. She is currently chair of the Arizona Community College Coordinating Council (AC4), chair of the Friends of Petrified Forest board, an ex officio member of the Arizona Commerce Authority, and serves on the executive board for Arizona Women in Higher Education, on the leadership team for the Northeastern Arizona Chapter of United Way of Northern Arizona, and as a peer reviewer for the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, NPC’s accrediting agency.
Raised in Phoenix, Swarthout pursued a career in archaeology, working with the Museum of Northern Arizona, Arizona State University and New Mexico State University on multiple field studies in Arizona and the Southwest. She also had the opportunity to share her passion for lifelong learning, providing instruction in cultural anthropology and women’s studies with the purpose of challenging stereotypical concepts and thinking utilizing technological innovation for course and program delivery.
