Mohave Community College has chosen Dr. Kirk Lacy to serve as the new Dean of Workforce and Partnership Development.
“We’re excited to have Dr. Lacy join our team,” said MCC President Dr. Stacy Klippenstein. “His extensive background in regional and statewide workforce initiatives, supervising career and technical education, managing large grants, and organizing community education programs will offer MCC the opportunity to enhance our regional partnerships and overall workforce training to better serve Mohave County.”
Dr. Lacy’s professional background includes more than 20 years of higher education administrative leadership experiences in leading workforce development, credit & non-credit career & technical education programs, regional small business development center operations, corporate & community education programs, as well as online & international education program expansion initiatives.
“I am excited to become part of the MCC family and to get back to my community college roots,” said Dr. Lacy, who is leaving the University of Montana to join to MCC. “Throughout my experiences at universities, state colleges and community colleges I’ve always been drawn back to the community college mission. MCC is positioned well to serve the communities of Mohave County and I want to be part of that success story. If we can help students and their families to have a better future then I am all in!”
Most recently, Dr. Lacy has served as the Interim Vice-Provost for 2-Year College Partnerships at the University of Montana.
“We are happy to welcome Dr. Lacy as the new Dean of Workforce Development and Regional Partnerships. His many years of experience with CTE (Career and Technical Education), Workforce Development and partnerships which improve the lives of communities will contribute generously to the mission and vision of MCC,” said Dr. Tim Culver, the college Executive Vice President.
His educational background includes a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) degree in Adult & Higher Education Administration from Montana State University, a Master of Arts (M.A.) degree in Organizational Communication from the University of Montana, and a Bachelor of Science in Education (B.S. Ed.) degree from Montana State University-Billings.
As the Dean of Workforce and Partnership development, he will organize and lead MCC campus and community partnership teams.
“We will ‘build bridges’ between the MCC’s great people, programs & services and MCC students, employers and communities to best serve their lifelong learning, career development, business development and community development needs, he said.”
As soon as he saw the employment posting for the MCC position, he and his wife came to visit Mohave County and were impressed.
“My wife and I made a special trip to visit Mohave County and 3 of the 4 MCC campuses and communities, and really enjoyed being able to see how unique each community is. We also recognized very quickly how similar the communities are to where we currently live in Montana which helped us see right away how we could picture ourselves fitting in and enjoying becoming a part of the MCC communities!”
Dr. Lacy was born and raised in Billings, Montana. In his spare time he enjoys spending time in the outdoors, watercolor painting, and cooking.
He’s also looking forward to Arizona’s hot weather, or at least he thinks he looks forward to it. “Compared to our cold winter weather in Montana, the idea of the Arizona weather sounds really great! I’ll be able to let you know more about how I feel in July & August.”
Dr. Lacy’s first day on the job at MCC is January 19.
