Westmoreland County Community College president will resign in summer 2024

Westmoreland County Community College’s first female president announced her resignation at the college’s board of directors meeting Wednesday.

Tuesday Stanley, 55, who joined WCCC in 2014, will remain in her position at the school near Youngwood through June 30. She will have served as president for exactly a decade.

Stanley said she isn’t sure what the future will hold and that she is not leaving to take a new position elsewhere.

“I’m exploring other opportunities, and we’ll see,” she said. “I told the board that I felt like it was time to have new leadership with fresh ideas. We’ve done tremendous work collectively.”

During Stanley’s tenure, the college has completed an addition to the Science Innovation Center, which includes biology labs to support the school’s health care programs and the associate in science degree. That was followed by a three-phase renovation of the Student Achievement Center (formerly Founders Hall). The building houses the one-stop Eberly Enrollment Center, study spaces and a reimagined library. In the final phase, the center became home to a new Career Connections Center, an expanded Tutoring and Learning Services Center, and the creation of the Event Center at Westmoreland, a rental space for meetings, conferences and private events.

Stanley said she can’t point to one specific thing she’s most proud of having accomplished.

“One thing that’s making it really difficult to even think about leaving is all of the people,” Stanley said. “It’s always more than just the job. I’m going to miss the tremendous employees and students and the connections in the community throughout the different boards I sit on.”

During Stanley’s tenure, the college, whose current enrollment is 4,275, also has expanded its College in High School program to more than 30 high schools and added coordinated programs with Indiana University of Pennsylvania, PennWest California University of Pennsylvania along with Seton Hill, Carlow, Kutztown and Robert Morris universities.

During Stanley’s years at the college, the educational foundation has been administratively restructured, including hiring a new executive director and development of a comprehensive strategic plan. The foundation has raised more than $23 million since Stanley came to the college.

“Dr. Stanley has served this college and the community exceptionally well for over 10 years when her tenure ends. Her work has allowed Westmoreland to remain strong in the extremely competitive nature of higher education,” WCCC Board of Trustees Chair William Kerr said.

And Stanley isn’t planning to coast through her final eight months on the job.

“We’re raising money for renovations to the public safety training center, in particular around the burn building, so we can continue to offer training for first responders,” she said. “We’re also raising money to renovate our chemistry labs. Our largest programs are in healthcare, and those students all go through the chem labs.”

A national presidential search will begin and is expected to take several months, the school said.