NW president promoted to vice chancellor

By Katelyn Needham/ editor-in-chief

Elva LeBlanc

NW Campus will lose a president, but the district will gain an executive vice chancellor and provost.

Current NW president Elva LeBlanc will step into the position officially June 1.

“I believe in Tarrant County College,” she said. “It is a great institution with a lot of highly qualified people. I appreciate the Chancellor’s vision to unite the college community and increase focus on ensuring that the college is student-ready. I believe in that and believe I can support it well in this new role.”

The position of provost puts LeBlanc in charge of planning, development and administration of the academic affairs and student success. She will also be required to work closely with the campus presidents to further TCC’s goal of helping students succeed.

“Her proven record of accomplishment when it comes to implementing programs that lead to increased student success, increasing collaboration with the public schools, expanding strategic partnerships with business and industry and developing workforce programs in response to the community needs make her a good fit for the position,” Chancellor Eugene Giovannini said.

LeBlanc started her time at TCC as a student on NE Campus. She also worked as a faculty member before moving into her first administrative position as director of the NE child development program.

The new vice chancellor loved her time as a NE student.

“It was very exciting,” she said. “I was anxious about leaving for university because it was such a welcoming place, but at that time, I had no idea I would come back to NE as a faculty member. I’ve had great experiences and opportunities.”

She has been NW president for 10 years.

“I love this campus,” she said. “It has experienced a metamorphosis over the 10 years that I have been here. It’s in the middle of everything right now, and whoever takes the position will have a great team. It’s really a wonderful place.”

The provost role was previously called vice chancellor for academic affairs and student success. Joy Gates Black took a position as president of Delaware County Community College, which created a vacancy in the position.

“Prior to posting the vacancy, I reviewed the job description and decided that a title change was appropriate,” Giovannini said. “After the position was posted, I appointed a committee to review applications.”

The committee members were then asked to conduct initial interviews for potential candidates. Once the committee made recommendations, Giovannini conducted the final interviews.

“I am extremely excited and looking forward to this position,” LeBlanc said. “We have a lot of really good people that want to support the students, but everyone has a slightly different way of viewing how to do that. Creating focus so everyone is on the same page might be a little difficult, but everyone’s heart is in the right place, and that’s the key.”

The selection process and timeline for choosing the next NW president has not been decided yet.

“Dr. LeBlanc requested that she be allowed to continue in both positions until a replacement is found, and for this I am deeply grateful, and I admire both her and our Chancellor for this decision,” NW student development services vice president Joe Rode said. “I can only hope that the new president is someone who shares the same vision as Dr. LeBlanc and our leadership Team, someone who is positive, who believes in functioning as a team, supporting one another and sharing budgets when need arises.”