PENDLETON — The Blue Mountain Community College Board of Education accepted President Dennis Bailey-Fougnier’s resignation Thursday, Feb. 11, marking an abrupt end to the brief tenure of the college’s top employee.

At a special meeting, board President Jane Hill made a brief statement after the vote, saying that Bailey-Fougnier wrote in his resignation letter that he was leaving the college to focus on his health.

The board then unanimously voted to appoint John Fields, the college’s vice president of instruction, as interim president.

A veteran community college administrator, Bailey-Fougnier was hired in March 2019.