Centralia College President Reflects on First Year at Helm

When Bob Mohrbacher heard Centralia College would soon be looking for a president, it was the only one of 34 colleges in Washington he had never visited.

In December 2015, on his way to the Oregon Coast to celebrate the new year, he and his wife, Liz, stopped and looked at the campus.

He said he was instantly attracted to the college. 

“I really liked the fact that it was right in the middle of town,” Mohrbacher recalled. “A lot of other colleges are further removed, and I think it’s great we can have this relationship with the community.”

As commencement nears at Centralia College this week, Mohrbacher is nearing his first anniversary at the helm of the college. After taking over in July 2016, he has watched the campus grow in his first year and still has plans for more growth, both academically and structurally. But Mohrbacher said despite plans for the campus, he already loves his new home.

“It’s a great place,” Mohrbacher said of Centralia College. “Myself, I really like it.”

Born in Seattle, Mohrbacher was reared in Bellevue, graduated high school in Seattle and then earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Washington. He then moved to George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where he earned a master’s in fine arts in creative writing. A career in education was not in his mind with his college studies, but he started teaching part time at Pierce College and Tacoma Community College after graduation to make ends meet. He said he tried a year as a seventh-grade teacher and a teaching assistant but it was the community college that really spoke to him.

“It was the community college that made it the most rewarding. It’s really clear you’re making an impact on people’s lives,” Mohrbacher said. “Most community college faculty get into it by accident. It’s not something you find on a career or aptitude test, it’s really an accidental career but one that provides a lot of satisfaction.”

Mohrbacher came to Centralia College from Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake, where he had served as vice president of investment and student services. Before that, he had served for 18 years at Pierce College, working his way from a professor to administrator. Mohrbacher said he has no career designs for himself beyond his current position.

“I will

retire from here,” Mohrbacher said. “This is the fifth college I’ve worked for in Washington and it will be the last.”

Perhaps the biggest accomplishment of Mohrbacher’s first year at Centralia College was the construction of the TransAlta Commons, which opened in May. Mohrbacher said coming in as a new president and having such a project underway was not intimidating for him because he had already been part of other similar projects. His last two years at Pierce College he oversaw planning for a new building that opened a month after he left there. He was also involved in the beginning stages of a planning project in Moses Lake.

“It was great. I actually got to be the one who opened a building instead of just planning for one,” Mohrbacher said of the TAC.

Moving into his second year, Mohrbacher said one of his biggest priorities will be to continue to grow the offerings on the Centralia College campus. He said the college is looking at new programs and ways to bring in new degree opportunities to the community, such as the planned commercial trucking program. He said there are also talks underway about how to expand East Lewis County offerings. When asked his opinion of what programs should be offered, Mohrbacher was quick to point out that the process is about listening to the needs of current and potential students.

“We need to be focused on the needs of the community,” Mohrbacher said. “I was very excited for the results in Onalaska with 100 percent of the graduates college bound. I’d like to see that at most of our high schools so I think working with community members, K-12 and businesses we can meet the needs so young people have those opportunities.”

Enrollment is one of the biggest challenges Mohrbacher said he faces in his second year. Enrollment is down at Centralia College, as is the case for most colleges, which creates budget challenges. One of the ways Mohrbacher aims to get numbers up is to focus on the high number of students who enroll but never make it to graduation.

“We’re working on a number of student success programs to help students with wraparound support so they can make it to graduation,” Mohrbacher said. “Our completing rate is fairly high compared to others but there’s still many students who don’t make it for a number of reasons: non-successful in class; financial issues; life gets in the way and they have to quit. It takes a whole array of solutions to help bridge those gaps.”

In the near future, Mohrbacher said, he will also likely be overseeing planning for a new child and family studies facility. The new building would not be anywhere near the same size as the new TAC but would get those programs out of the scattered, older buildings and under one, more modern roof. There are also plans underway for an intramural field to be added near Hanson Hall. Mohrbacher said he is also interested in creating a more sustainable student housing arrangement. Currently the college has about 55 beds that are used exclusively by student athletes and international students.

“We’d like to see housing options for the general populations at some point,” Mohrbacher said.