Judy Guenther, a Centralia College Board of Trustee member since 1996, was named the Washington state Trustee Association of Community and Technical Colleges (TACTC) Trustee of the Year. The award recognizes an individual trustee for leadership and contributions to the college, higher education in general, and the community the college serves.

"Centralia College is extremely fortunate to have had Judy in a leadership position for almost 15 years. It is a tribute to her accomplishments that she is receiving this recognition," said Dr. Jim Walton, college president. Guenther will be honored during the TACTC meeting May 20 and 21 in Wenatchee.

Guenther is the third Centralia College trustee to be given the award since its inception in 1982. She joins former trustees Jim Sherrill and Arland Lyons who received the award in 1995 and 1999, respectively.

According to the nomination letter, Guenther brought a strong background in small business and knew that many of her business-world colleagues would benefit from resources and expertise the college could offer. She checked with other community leaders and realized that while people knew about the college, few knew it had a board of trustees and even fewer were aware that the college could help them. She wanted to change that.

"I believed that the college, with its tremendous array of resources, could be and needed to be a partner to many community agencies, businesses, and industries to help carry this community forward," she said. She was aware of the concept of a community scan but there were no models of such a process in the state. She used common sense and the influence of her position as a board member to make scans part of the landscape.

"I wanted to find out what was going on among the entities within the community. I wanted to know what they were doing, problems they might be facing, successes they were having and where they expected to be in five years and beyond," she said. "Then I wanted them to tell us (the board and subsequently the college) how the college could help them get to where they wanted to go."

Under Guenther's leadership, the Board of Trustees initiated community scans, an innovative program that brings leaders in selected areas of business and industry to meet with trustees. Needs are expressed and ideas are exchanged and the college looks for ways it can provide assistance. As a result of scans the college initiated its Registered Nursing program, expanded its criminal justice program, opened its diversity center and launched Spanish-language radio programming using college radio broadcasting equipment.

"There have been other very positive outcomes because of these scans," said Walton. "We have made much stronger connections with our community and through the process we have identified and responded to very real community needs. Because of Judy's leadership in this we are able to provide a much higher level of service to our community."

The nomination letter also outlined Guenther's work in developing board outreach to the community, increasing giving opportunities to increase scholarship funding, supporting students, and raising the image of the college throughout the region. Each of the state's 34 community and technical colleges are led by a Governor-appointed board comprised of five trustees. Trustees generally serve a five-year term, longer if reappointed.

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