It’s likely the candidates for Central Oregon Community College’s board of directors include some familiar faces for Central Oregonians.

Two incumbents coming to the end of their term are running again unopposed. Two more board members whose terms are up will not run again, but the candidates for their positions may still be known to the community, including Alan Unger, a former Deschutes County Commissioner who will run unopposed for the Redmond seat on the COCC Board.

Seats up for election on the college board represent Madras, Prineville, Redmond and Bend.

The community college has had a range of topics and issues to discuss lately, including ways students are paying for college, the college’s new residence hall, the Deschutes County District Attorney’s accusation that the college’s public safety officers may have assumed duties beyond their authority and that one of COCC’s former public safety officers has been charged with four counts of aggravated murder for allegedly kidnapping, attempting to sexually assault and murdering a 23-year-old Bend woman.

Zone 1 (Madras)

Joe Krenowicz

Joe Krenowicz, the incumbent and lone candidate for Zone 1, has served on the college board for five years and was on the college’s budget committee for three years before that. Krenowicz was originally appointed to the board.

Education has always been of interest to Krenowicz, he said, and especially education’s relationship with economic development. Krenowicz is executive director of the Madras-Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce.

“Education and economic development are hand-in-hand projects,” Krenowicz said, adding his goal on the board is to represent Madras and Jefferson County and enhance the town’s satellite campus that has been there for five years. The campus has been a boon to the community, Krenowicz said. Students don’t have the impediment of traveling to Bend for classes.

Krenowicz would like to see that campus expand in the next five to seven years. He’s concerned about state funding, but other issues the board has had to discuss as of late, though difficult, haven’t given him reservations about continuing his service on the board.

Zone 2 (Prineville)

Laura Craska Cooper

Laura Craska Cooper, a real estate and land use lawyer, was first appointed to the COCC Board in August 2012. There are three areas she especially cares about that made her want to run: ensuring access, accountability and affordability at the college. Craska Cooper first sought the appointment in 2012 because she had been “extremely disappointed” in the early 2000s to see the college had closed its branch campuses, she said. The college later reopened them.

“I want to make sure we continue to dedicate significant resources and attention to the outlying campuses,” Craska Cooper said, adding she knows the Prineville campus, and other branch campuses, provide access to some people who otherwise wouldn’t get a college education.

Craska Cooper said she thinks the college is “as affordable as we can make it at this time.” Running again, even with some of the tough discussions the community college has been involved in, doesn’t worry her. For Craska Cooper, it’s part of the responsibility a person takes on when choosing to serve on a board.

Zone 3 (Redmond)

Alan Unger

Alan Unger, formerly a Deschutes County commissioner for eight consecutive years, is now working as a business consultant. Unger wants to run for the COCC Board because he’s interested in bringing areas of workforce development to the community college. There is a system set up in K-12 education today that helps train students for the workforce, Unger said. He’s interested in continuing that system and better connecting employers to the college, he said. In that vein he’d like to make sure that the career and technical education programs are stronger and to look into applied certificates that would focus on a specific industry, which would increase a student’s chances of being hired immediately after graduation. Unger said with his 16 years of government experience, he’s familiar with being a policymaker and approving budgets. Unger said as a board member, he would listen to the expectations of security officers, then look at other community colleges to determine what level of engagement they should have with students.

“As I see it, the security force needs to try to be helpful and keep order,” Unger said.

Zone 4 (Bend)

Erica Skatvold

Erica Skatvold, a specialist at St. Charles who serves as a liaison between IT staffers and people who work with patients, is interested in public policy and earned a master’s degree at the University of Chicago. Skatvold would like to see organizations and businesses work with COCC, for example with more practicums. Skatvold sees a lost opportunity in COCC’s nursing program — while St. Charles has more than 160 nursing positions open, it generally only hires a few COCC nursing graduates each year. Some of that has to do with the curriculum at COCC, Skatvold said, but it also would be good for COCC graduates to have more hands-on experience. Not just in health care but also in the tech field, Skatvold said.

She’d like to see more health care and tech job openings go to local graduates. Skatvold said the tougher discussions the college has had to have recently make her nervous in the sense that COCC has historically been disconnected from the community. Skatvold said while the campus is beautiful and the faculty connected to students, the community college could be better in touch with the community.

Kyle Frick

Kyle Frick, vice president of marketing for Mid Oregon Credit Union, said he has a lot of interest in providing for the community, and getting involved with COCC seemed like a good fit because it reaches people in different areas of Central Oregon. He’s also a COCC alumnus. Frick said COCC professors helped him re-adapt to classroom life after he finished his service with the U.S. Air Force. He had a good experience at COCC and encourages others to make the same smart financial decision.

“I’m a big fan of the two-plus-two program,” Frick said. He earned his bachelor’s degree from University of Oregon.

Frick feels COCC is preparing its students for the workforce well but he would like to see more programs to improve students’ job skills.

There are several issues Frick thinks are important: workforce development, impact of the state grant Oregon Promise for recent graduates and updating the college’s master plan. As for discussions on public safety, Frick said he thinks a community college’s role needs to be clarified at the state level.

— Reporter: 541-383-0325, kfisicaro@bendbulletin.com