NIACC President Joel Pedersen is wrapping up his first year at the school and is looking ahead to 2025-26.
Pedersen, who replaced Steve Schulz last year, tells RadioOnTheGo News one his first victories as president was an increase in enrollment.
“In the fall, we actually saw our largest student percentage increase since 1985. So really kind of bucking the trends of a rural community college. And then on top of that, we actually saw an increase in the spring compared to fall, which almost never happens that you have more in the spring than more students in the fall. So we actually are (having) back-to-back semesters seeing some increase in growth. We’re a long ways away from next fall, but we see some promising aspects of that too. We continue to have great partnerships with our local high schools in region two, which is growing a lot of the enrollment, but we’re also seeing kind of what we call traditional students and even adult learners coming back to pick up some college classes. And so far, it’s been a really exciting year with enrollment.”
One project Pedersen is excited to move forward with is the Franklin County Career Center, a project that will help expand career and technical training in North Iowa. Pedersen says after some uncertainty about how they would move forward with the project, there is a clear vision of what the final product will look like.
“We’re so excited to partner with Belmond-Klemme, West Fork, and Hampton-Dumont. We’ve kept them up to speed. They’ve been great partners. And we see it as really a community asset. It’s something that can be used by a business that wants to have a training unit. So it doesn’t have to all just be high school students. It can be continuing education. It can be businesses that need a professional place to hold a meeting. We just are excited to be there. When the Franklin County Center is completed and you put that with Charles City Career Center, Forest City Career Center, and in the Mason City main campus, every student in Region 2 will be within 30 minutes of either main campus or a career center. So we’re really excited about those opportunities for all of our learners in Region 2.”
The new center will be located near the Hampton Airport.
