by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Carol Spalding isn’t retiring to spend her days wading through the surf and reading a book on the beach. She’s just moving on to the next chapter of her professional biography.
In early August, Spalding will leave as president of Florida Community College at Jacksonville’s Open Campus. A few days later, she’ll start unpacking as the new president of Rowan-Cabarrus Community College outside of Charlotte, N.C.
Her path to Charlotte is nearly as intriguing as her ascent at FCCJ.
“I came to Jacksonville as a navy wife in 1972,” said Spalding, who had her degree in international relations with a minor in secondary education but couldn’t find a teaching job. “I finally got a job at FCCJ (Florida Junior College at the time) teaching on the (Navy) bases.”
Over the years, Spalding taught and eventually worked her way into the administration at the school with several campuses across town. In 1997, Spalding was named the interim president of the school before its board hired Steve Wallace.
“I couldn’t apply because I didn’t have my doctorate,” she said.
Spalding soon realized that in order to make professional progress, she would need her doctorate. She took care of that in 2003 when she graduated from Teachers College, Columbia University. At the same time, Spalding had been president of the school’s open campus since 1988 and president of the Downtown campus from 1998-2001.
“We call it a campus without walls,” said FCCJ spokesman Michael Corby. “It’s an umbrella for learning on-line. Before, students took those classes in the library or on video. That campus oversees our telecommunications classes which air on Ch. 26.”
Spalding said she’s leaving the school after a 30-year career because she can now retire will full pension from the Florida Retirement System and the timing couldn’t be better. She and her husband were in the Charlotte area last July for the 4th and discovered it was the one area they wouldn’t mind being outside of Jacksonville. Knowing her ability to retire was looming, Spalding started looking into opportunities in the area.
“I had a wireless computer in the car and looked up jobs in the area. I found out the president of 30 years (of RCCC) was retiring in June of 2008. I got the job offer Monday,” said Spalding, who interviewed for the job April 30 and filed her retirement paperwork the next day. She’s been working under the state’s drop program since.
Spalding said the job presents unique opportunities and waiting until August will assure she finishes several projects at FCCJ.
“I have some goals I want to accomplish before I leave,” she said. “I have two months to get them down and create a transition plan.”
School President Steve Wallace said Spalding has done an admiral job and credits her for making one of the school’s programs one of the best in the country.
“Dr. Spalding has made tremendous contributions to the success of FCCJ. She built one of the largest and most successful district learning programs in the country,” said Wallace, of the program that reaches 20,000 students annually. “Under her leadership, our military education institute became one of the largest providers of education and training for the United States Navy in the world.”
Wallace said he will begin a national search to replace Spalding. He expects that search to take about six months. In the meantime, said Wallace, Dr. Don Green (executive vice president of the Open Campus) will serve as interim Open Campus president. Wallace said Green is eligible for the position.