Mike Gaudette, dean of Institutional Advancement at Southwestern Oregon Community College for the past seven years, announced his resignation this week. He cited the need to spend more time with his higher education consulting business as the reason for his departure. His last day will be Friday, May 12.

Gaudette started his higher education consulting practice 20 years ago, and says it has grown to the point that it requires more of his time. Additionally, he has partnered with his son, Dan Gaudette, and his brother, Frank Gaudette, a homebuilder in the Portland area, to begin building homes in the Bay Area. Their initial project will be a subdivision of 44 single-family homes in Empire.

A member of the Southwestern faculty and administration for 14 years, Gaudette joined the college in 1991 as the director of College Advancement after 10 years as an instructor, public information officer and grant specialist at Centralia College in Centralia, Wash. He has worked in fund raising, grant writing, public relations and publications, student housing, food service, student activities, recruiting, managing numerous construction projects and the construction of the Oregon Coast Culinary Institute.

“It has been my great pleasure and privilege to work at Southwestern Oregon Community College the past 14 years,” Gaudette said. “I have had the rare opportunity to work with colleagues, volunteers and donors of exceptional caliber, participate in work that is professionally challenging and rewarding, and develop relationships that will endure long beyond my service to the college.”

In 1996, Gaudette helped develop the community partnerships that resulted in construction of the Newmark Center and Family Center. He also took a leadership role in researching, developing and managing the construction of the college's student residence halls, the Oregon Coast Culinary Institute and the new Student Recreation Center complex. During Gaudette's tenure as executive director of the Southwestern Oregon Community College Foundation, the endowment has tripled and received its first million-dollar gift. The college's annual funding from grants also has doubled since Gaudette joined the college.

Gaudette said although he is sad to leave the college, he is eager to pursue new ambitions and endeavors.

“I'm pretty excited for Mike, because I learned soon after I came here, the huge national reputation he has with grants and fund raising opportunities in higher education,” Southwestern President Judith Hansen said. “I'm also a little jealous because he's going to be able to capture some of the growth of the South Coast in a business sense, through his real estate opportunities.”

Hansen said she does not intend to replace Gaudette right away, and that other administrators will assume his responsibilities in the meantime.

Gaudette, who was considered for the presidency at Southwestern before Hansen was selected by the college board of directors, said he is leaving his current position because of the need for more time with his consulting business - not because he harbors any hard feelings.

“This is just part of my longterm plans. This is not a sour grapes thing,” Gaudette said. “At the time I applied for the presidency, I felt fairly confident that if I were not selected as president, I would be moving on to other opportunities - whether that would have been pursuing a presidency somewhere else, or into my own pursuits.”

The community is invited to a going-away party for Gaudette at 10 a.m. Friday, May 12, in Room 505, at Tioga Hall, on campus, 1988 Newmark Ave., Coos Bay.