Is the next NIC president already here?

The last of the finalists for North Idaho College president left town yesterday. Over the past couple weeks, the school’s trustees have brought in candidates from across the country, with wide-ranging experience and various strengths and weaknesses.

The guy who came the shortest distance, though, should not be overlooked. He just might have the most to offer.

His name is Graydon Stanley, and if the name isn’t familiar to you just yet, that’s OK. It’s familiar to thousands of NIC students, and Graydon knows many of them on a first-name basis, too.

For the past four years, Stanley has been vice president of student services at NIC. His background in higher ed is extensive, particularly at the community college level. From 1984 to 2012, he was dean of students at the College of Southern Idaho. As we pored over the backgrounds and credentials of candidates, something in Stanley’s past at CSI jumped out. Even though he had his hands full of administrative duties, he didn’t want unnecessary distance between him and his primary customers. So Stanley taught two or three classes each semester on his own time, over lunch hours and in the evenings.

While he’s in education to serve students, Stanley isn’t one-dimensional. A firm advocate of the “community” part of community college, he’s serving on the Post Falls Chamber of Commerce board while also being a member of the Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce. In 2014 he was president of the River City Leadership class, and he’s on the U.S. Bank North Region Advisory Board. Graydon Stanley clearly connects with the business community, knowing that getting a degree or certificate is only the starting point for students. The real goal is getting good jobs, pursuing worthy careers.

Stanley is one class from completing course work for a doctorate degree in higher education leadership, which should qualify him to pass the faculty’s academic litmus test. He has extensive experience handling budgets of all sizes. What we’ve witnessed over the past four years is that he has charisma, an exceedingly positive personality like all good leaders have. People want to work with him. People want to work for him, because they know he’ll be working for them, too.

None of this is meant to degrade any of the other candidates. If someone in that batch is clearly better than Graydon Stanley, NIC is going to be in pretty good shape for the next five years or so.

But we hope the trustees will remember the obstacles an outsider faces. There’s a lengthy period of winning approval. There’s a steep learning curve for campus and community both. We think it’s fair to say that the first year of a new presidency is mostly orientation. Outgoing President Joe Dunlap took a shortcut because he came here from Spokane and was already familiar with our culture and key people.

One thing we already know about Graydon Stanley that is a question mark for every other candidate: He loves it here and has no desire to be anywhere else. In our view, he’s ready for the NIC reins.