NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hutchinson Community College President Dr. Tricia Paramore has known for a long time that she wanted to lead in higher education.
"When I was in graduate school at the University of Kansas, my aspiration was to go into higher education teaching and then ultimately administration," Paramore said. "I had a mentor who was really just a great model for me going into a provost type of position and then ultimately a university president and I thought at one point that's what I want to do. So I started off using my degrees in biology and genetics as a faculty member here at the college in 1996. It's when I was hired and did that for about 10 years. I loved it. I still think teaching is the best gig in higher education and then about 10 years in I had the opportunity to become the department chair, which is kind of like what most people think of as a dean, right? Most schools call it a dean position and was in that position for about 17 years and then almost two years ago I moved into the role of the vice president of academic affairs and then this summer I began as the president and you know that president position opened up a little sooner than I was expecting, but here we are."
Paramore said she loves the people she works with, but the students are what get her up in the morning to go to work.
"I love being around the students," Paramore said. "When they started coming back in mid late July, I was like, yeah, here we go. This is why we're here and it really kind of keeps the focus on our purpose, which is to help them."
Paramore wants to help the whole school chart a direction. It's not a job she wants to do alone.
"I've had a number of opportunities where folks have said, Hey, what do you want to do with this? What direction do you want to go with this? What do you see as this, you know, for this initiative, whatever it may be. My approach is, is typically, well, what about we, is it just what I want to do or is it what we want to do as an institution? Let's get some other people around the table who have some voice and impact on this and talk about what we would like to do rather than just what Tricia wants to do."
Paramore told the staff when they came back for fall classes in August that she wants the institution to push forward, but it may still take a while to see exactly what that looks like.