Your future, our focus
P O W E L L, W y o. - After four years at the helm of Northwest College, President Miles LaRowe announced his retirement effective June 30, 2008.
LaRowe, 59, made the announcement at the June 11 NWC Board of Trustees meeting. He will remain president through the college's next academic year, 2007-08.
"I thank Miles for his good work the last four years and congratulate him on the many accomplishments that have moved the college forward," NWC Board of Trustees President Jim Vogt said. "I wish him the best in his retirement."
"Four years ago when I came to Northwest, I made a tentative decision to stay about five years before I retired," LaRowe said. "I told Board President Vogt of my plans earlier this year."
LaRowe said he's pleased with progress the college has made during his tenure.
"When I arrived in 2003, college finances were frail and attention to infrastructure remiss," he said. "Through my leadership we now have financial integrity and attractive college facilities."
Additional major accomplishments LaRowe highlighted are sizeable expansion of the Cody Center, enrollment growth, construction of Simpson Hall, multiple college renovations, a multi-million dollar endowment campaign, strategic planning advances, emergency management and facilities master planning.
"This progress has been substantive, has strengthened partnerships between the college and its communities and has readied Northwest to remain a superior institution in the future," LaRowe added.
Vogt said the Board will launch a search for a new president during the upcoming academic year and will begin work soon to develop the search process and criteria.
LaRowe assumed NWC's presidency in July 2003 after serving eight years as president of Eastern Idaho Technical College. He's also worked at Dodge City Community College in Kansas and Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne.
Northwest College has had six presidents in its 60-year history. Presidents have included Julius Christensen (1949-67), SinClair Orendorff (1967-88), Philip Kendall (1989-91), John Hanna (1991-97), Frances Feinerman (1998-2002) and LaRowe (2003-2008); interim presidents served after departures by Orendorff, Kendall, Hanna and Feinerman.