Conover reflects on 22 years service in Iowa's community colleges

As Kitty Conover sifts through the things in her office this week, her thoughts jump from what she's witnessed over the past 22 years, the last four of which have been as Iowa Lakes Community College's Spencer Campus dean, to anticipations of what may be in store for her in the future.

The 59-year-old Spencer woman recalls growing up with "pretty humble beginnings" in southeast Iowa.

"My dad had an eighth grade education. My mother graduated from high school and would have loved to have gone to college, but it was the depths of the Depression."

Perhaps in response to her mother's wish, Conover chose to actively pursue her education.

As she and her husband Neal's four children -- Cory, of Sioux Falls, an Augustana College teacher; Nicole Steele, of Spencer, a stay-at-home mother; Brandon, of Spencer, a Northwest Bank employee in Spencer; and Joe, of Milford, a Northwest Bank employee in Okoboji -- approached high school age, Kitty found herself being recruited to work at Southwestern Community College by the children's piano instructor.

"I found out that I loved working with college-age students, and it just really seemed to fit what I liked to do," Conover said of her two-year role as a distance learning course coordinator. "When I came up here and had the opportunity to be kind of an advisor, and then move into this role, it just really fit my passion as an educator and for being a facilitator for people who wanted to go back to school."

Conover began her career at the ILCC Spencer Campus, then referred to as the Spencer Center, in 1989. As the site's part-time telecourse coordinator, she scheduled Iowa Communications Network courses for the college.

"Iowa Lakes was one of the first in the state to have a TV system; but this was more like a correspondence course, and we used video cassette tape," she explained. "It was a way for students to be able to take some courses without tying themselves to a schedule. Now, of course, we've moved into the arena of online courses, another example of asynchronous learning.

"The technology," Conover added, "has moved us light years ahead of where we were. But at the same time, it has given our college students more opportunity and made education accessible to very nearly everyone who wants to take it."

With campuses in Algona, Emmetsburg, Estherville, Spencer and Spirit Lake, Conover noted ILCC draws a large number of its students, enrolled in online courses, from a seven-college consortium.

"This sharing agreement gave us an opportunity to compete with larger colleges," the campus dean reported. "Individually, the seven community colleges might not have been strong enough to offer the quality support platform that we have access to as a unit."

Promoted to serve as the northwest Iowa community college's coordinator of telecommunications courses in 1994, Conover advanced again professionally in 1996, when she was named director of the Spencer Center.

"I followed a very creative leader, Jane Kruse. She had really worked hard to develop the Spencer campus. We had moved into a remodeled facility, and things were going really well. She left big shoes to fill," Conover said. "At that time, we had also assumed ownership of the Spencer College program. With that coming over here, we added some more programs that were specific to Spencer, so there were more full-time programs here."

Conover deemed the Spencer College transition a "difficult" one, because it meant the "end of something good" and the closing of a "very vital organization."

"It was hard to see that go, but by our helping them and assuming some of those programs, some of those were opportunities that the students could still have," she said.

During her Spencer ILCC tenure, Conover has experienced her office being moved from the basement to Gateway North Center's upstairs spot, in a former jewelry store near the east doors, to where it is positioned now, the Gateway North Center's west entrance. As the ILCC's offices and classrooms were brought together, making Spencer's collegiate site more of a campus presence, its academic programs also grew.

"We began to grow the allied health field, with the medical assistant (program). And then we added surgical technology," Conover recalled. "We needed more space, because we also added an alternative high school for a few years, so we developed classroom space across the hall and added that in about 2000. Then, the massage therapy program took off in such a way that we needed a dedicated classroom for that. So, we developed the old Foto Pros space. And then we added a bookstore, so we could better serve the students. When we built the dorms in 2006, that was another level that we had achieved. And now, we have a fitness center room that we have some exercise equipment. So, over the years, we've grown and we needed to fit the facilities to the programs that we've had here."

The "most meaningful honor" the grandmother of 11 said she's received to date was being named the Iowa Lakes Administrator of the Year in 2002 -- because all the Spencer Center staff signed the application that nominated her.

But even as she finds herself completing her last week in office, Conover is still readily singing the praises of the local campus -- and what a solid resource it is for residents: "We touch so many people. We touch English as a second language. We teach adult basic education for people that are challenged. We do diploma credits in our Success Center for kids who've missed something in high school. We have continuing education. We have adult interests, as well as the college credit. We house the Small Business Development Center, with Kelly McCarty, here. We do continuing ed for lots of different groups who otherwise might have to travel a long ways."

She continued, "When there is a plant closing or downsizing, where do people go? They need the community college. What I tell myself all the time is to be so proud of the work I do because it is very important. And, we give people a chance. Sometimes we give people a second or third chance to explore a career. And, sometimes people come to us for just one class and we think, 'Oh, what a waste.' But no, not really. If it gives them an appreciation for another topic area, then we've made a difference in some way."

When asked to describe what she sees as the future in education, Conover answered by saying she's witnessed changes in the content and rigor being taught to K-12 students.

"I think that has been a positive step for the future of education," she said. "I also would hope that we could continue to do the work that we're charged to do here. With our dropping population, we're not getting as many K-12 graduates. And, we don't want to see factories close so we get more students who are non-traditional-aged students.

"We may have to be more selective about programs that we offer, to become even more efficient and leaner than we have been before. We're continually asked to do more with less money, but we do not want to continually have to raise tuition so that we're pricing ourselves out of students' reach. We want education still to be available to everybody."

And of her pending retirement, Conover smiled as she said, "I have been incredibly blessed by this opportunity, way beyond my aspirations. ... It's been a wonderful career, and hard to leave. But, there's another adventure out there."