PENDLETON — Blue Mountain Community College turned to a familiar face to hold down the fort while it searches for a new president. But Connie Green’s second tenure leading the college will be under very different circumstances.

At a special meeting on Monday, Feb. 22, the BMCC Board of Education unanimously voted to appoint Green as interim president starting on March 1.

Green will temporarily replace former President Dennis Bailey-Fougnier, who cited a recent cancer diagnosis when he abruptly resigned on Feb. 11. Jane Hill, the chair of the board, said Green’s appointment will affirm BMCC’s commitment to stability during the presidential transition.

In Green, BMCC is hiring a veteran college administrator who served for six years as the president of Tillamook Bay Community College before retiring in 2017. For six months in 2018 and 2019, Green came out of retirement to serve as the interim president of BMCC between Cam Preus, who left the college to become the director of the Oregon Community College Association, and the eventual arrival of Dennis Bailey-Fougnier.

Board member Chris Brown said Green will need to take a more active role than she did in her last stint at the college, where she was expected to take a more “passive” role while the college identified a new president.

This time around, Brown said Green would need to help the board and staff address important issues like the college’s budget and strategic plan.

Green is assuming leadership over the college after it survived a tough 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the college to move most of its classes online, which was followed by declining enrollment and staff layoffs. Simultaneously, BMCC was fighting to keep its adult education program going at three Eastern Oregon state prisons. Although the program was saved, the new contract will likely lead to further staff reductions.

Given the issues the college is facing, Kim Puzey, the longest tenured member of the BMCC board, is concerned about the existential future of the institution.

In an interview after the meeting, Puzey pointed to a yearslong trend of declining enrollment and a state government that may be more interested in responding to ongoing crises like COVID-19 and the wildfire recovery rather than adequate community college funding.

“The college is moving toward foreseeable, inevitable insolvency,” he said, emphasizing that it was only his personal opinion rather than the views of the board.

Even with his dire concerns, Puzey echoed his fellow board members in praising Green and her ability.

“I believe she is a team builder,” he said. “She’s certainly an advocate for community colleges. And she understands the system and what we’re trying to do at Blue Mountain Community College as well as anyone I’ve ever met.”

Interest in Green’s appointment among staff and students was high. During the virtual public meeting, Hill noted that the total attendees swelled to 60 at its highest. Most of the staff who weighed in on Green’s hiring left supportive comments in the chat.

Megan Van Pelt, the Associated Student Government president, asked Green what she would do to fulfill the college’s “students first” motto.

Green said addressing student concerns and issues has to be the “guiding principle” of the school.

Overall, Green said she prefers a collaborative approach to solving the challenges the college faces, but she won’t be afraid to take decisive action if the need arises.

“The goal is to get to the next president,” she said. “But you don’t want the president to learn and lift at the same time.”

Green said her task will be to help the college lift.

“We need action, we need compassion, and we need hope,” she said.