The first order of business for the new board of Area Ten Community College was to hire it's first superintendent. On June 10, 1966 Dr. Selby Ballantyne, Iowa native and superintendent of schools at Bettendorf, Iowa, was hired. The new board and…
Dr. Ballantyne, commonly referred to as Dr. B., had the appearance of a gruff person but he was admired by many. From his humble beginnings in Albia, Iowa and dropping out of school when he was 15 years old, he understood hard work and the…
After Dr. Ballantyne's untimely death, Ira Larson was called upon to lead Kirkwood Community College as Interim President at a time when the college community was grieving the lost of their previous leader and to give the Board time to search for a…
Ira Larson, left, with Dr. Bill Stewart, center, and Board President, B. A. Jensen, right. The occasion is likely when Dr. Stewart was presented as the second president of Kirkwood Community College.
A seven-page paper providing the historical background of the development of Iowa community college/junior colleges. We do not know the origin of this paper.
Dr. Norm Nielsen captured the attention of Kirkwood's Board of Trustees when he was part of Dr. Stewart's administration. The former high school teacher climbed the ranks in secondary education prior to joining the Kirkwood staff in 1979 as…
Dr. Norm Nielsen was the longest-tenured chief officer in the college's history. In a 20-year span he along with Trustee Wayne Newton and the wider community embraced the concept of business and industry partnerships. Through this ongoing effort,…
