The Iowa Valley Community College District has named a new president. Anne Howsare Boyens will replace Kristie Fisher, who is leaving to become the president of Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids. Howsare-Boynes says she will work on the transition with Fisher until she takes over November 1st.
“And also working on meetings with community members and a lot of the staff and faculty at the colleges in the meantime, so yeah it’s going to be a busy October for me,” she says. The Valley Community College District operates Ellsworth Community College in Iowa Falls, Marshalltown Community College and Iowa Valley Continuing Education, and the Iowa Valley satellite center in Grinnell.
Howsare-Boyens had been the provost at the Des Moines Area Community College urban campus, and says there are a lot of similarities between the two. “Really serving the underserved, the traditionally underserved, is near and dear to my heart and always has been,” she says. “I’ve been at DMACC urban campus for the last 20 years. And pre-COVID we were actually at about 51 percent students of color, and also had students from all over the globe.”
She says she also wants to reach out to those who may be intimidated by going to college, or thought they wouldn’t fit in. “We as a district need to embrace that and reach out to populations that this may not have occurred to, that college is for everyone, regardless of how you did in high school. If you finished high school, if you haven’t been in school for 20 years.” she says.
Howsare Boyens was chosen by the Iowa Valley board as the new president at the meeting on September 20th.
(By Zach Tomesch, KFJB, Marshalltown)