In the Times-Union: FSCJ Interim President Holcombe praised for integrity, understanding mission

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Holcombe is here on an interim basis. The college is already searching for a permanent replacement for Steve Wallace, who stepped down in December amid a state investigation into the college foundation’s spending.

The state legislators who will decide the college’s funding will meet for a new session in March. A new budget season is looming with the college facing a big deficit brought by a drop in enrollment and $5 million worth of financial aid mistakes. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools will visit FSCJ in October to review its accreditation status.

But friends and former colleagues say Holcombe, 67, is up to the task because the former Marine and longtime college administrator is disciplined, well-liked and dedicated to the mission community and state colleges serve. He has spent years working with lawmakers and the accrediting agency. And he carries with him the experience — and the gravitas — to reassure a wounded community.

Replay: FSCJ board to vote on contract for interim president

“I’ve worked with a lot of people over the years in leadership roles in community colleges, in the state and nationally,” said J. David Armstrong, who worked with Holcombe while Armstrong was chancellor and succeeded him as president of Broward College. “Will is at the top of the list when it comes to integrity, credibility and effectiveness in getting the job done.”

Holcombe, who is being paid $270,000 annually, said FSCJ has always been an important leader in the college system. He knows the last year has been difficult internally and externally. Holcombe declined to discuss a plan of attack for some of the college’s pressing issues, saying he still needs to be briefed on some issues.

But his primary role is to create a smooth transition for a college that has a “great history.”

“My overall goal is to try and give to the new president an institution that is ready to move forward, to begin to adopt a new strategic plan and to go on to the heavens and beyond,” Holcombe said. “This has been a difficult period from a community standpoint — a PR standpoint, if you will. I think there has to be some work there.”

Unanimous choice
The FSCJ board in December unanimously chose Holcombe from 17 candidates for the interim presidency. There was little discussion among the board at the time because, as Chairwoman Gwen Yates said, he is “well known in the state” for his leadership in education.

Holcombe was president at Broward College for 17 years. When he returned there for a brief stint as an interim president after his replacement didn’t work out, a building there already bore his name.

Trish Joyce, an English professor at Broward College, has known Holcombe 35 years and said she watched him ascend to his first presidency. Joyce respects him as a family man — Holcombe and wife, Jo, both of Tavernier, have three adult children and seven grandchildren. His value for interpersonal relationships, she said, carries over into his administrative style.

Faculty respected Holcombe, Joyce said, because he learned their names, sought their opinions and took a hands-on approach — including teaching an English course while serving as an administrator.

“It was not unusual to see Will in the daily places that one goes on a college campus, so there was no sequestering in the proverbial ivory tower,” Joyce said. “He wasn’t as caught up as maybe some in the formal barriers that might exist in an organization because they’re very hierarchical.”

FSCJ Faculty Senate President Jason Gibson said Holcombe has already reached out to him and union leaders for a meeting. That’s in line with what Gibson said he has heard about the interim, who is known for having good rapport with his staff and with legislators in Tallahassee. Gibson said that will help improve the college’s overall standing.

“The man is definitely a healer. As everyone says, he truly is a gentleman who is ethical, something we have not had in the last 15 years,” Gibson said. “We look forward to him restoring the college’s reputation in the community.”

A sense of stability
Already, Holcombe seems to be smoothing things over with some members of the Legislature, which will decide whether to punish the college for enrollment reporting mistakes that led to $400,000 in extra funding. State Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, said his overall thoughts about the college’s recent problems were “not good,” but good can come from the change in administrations.

Holcombe “is a good guy,” Thrasher said. “He will stabilize things there, I think.”

And stability is what Holcombe brought to Tallahassee in 2007, FSCJ Provost Judith Bilsky said, as he started four years as chancellor of what is now the Florida Community College System.

Bilsky was Holcombe’s executive vice chancellor during the start of the statewide transition of two-year community colleges to state colleges offering four-year degrees.

He smoothed out what could have been a very difficult period, Bilsky said, because he so greatly understood the system’s mission of open access. He studied for his doctorate at the University of Florida under the late James Wattenbarger, who was often called the father of Florida’s modern community college system.

Considering it was such a huge and controversial change, Bilsky said, chaos may have reigned without Holcombe’s steady hand.

“It went very smoothly because he was there to help guide it,” Bilsky said.

Holcombe said he will be a quick study for the problems at FSCJ that he must also help correct. But he views his job as a bridge for his successor, and he will leave one major project for that person to accomplish: FSCJ’s new strategic plan and vision for its future.

kate.perry@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4697

adam.causey@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4025