COD board fills open trustee spot

A 30-year-old Roselle attorney who's been going to College of DuPage board meetings on his own time for the past year made his attendance more official Saturday.

After interviewing three candidates from a field of 26 applicants, trustees appointed Kory Atkinson to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Mary Mack.

Members of the audience were allowed to submit questions to the trio, as well, before the board made its pick.

Atkinson, an attorney, said he moved to Roselle in 2006 and decided he wanted to get involved in the community. With his background in school law, and an interest in community college, the College of DuPage seemed like a logical place, so he started attending board meetings.

"It's such a central part of the community," he said after his appointment.

Board Chairman Micheal McKinnon said trustees are looking to the legal perspective Atkinson can provide. Former trustee Diane Landry -- an attorney and longtime board member -- lost her re-election bid in last year.

McKinnon said Landry's legal perspective, not to mention her free legal advice, were invaluable to the board, and that played a part in the decision to select three finalists who all hold law degrees. The other finalists were Mark Baggio of Wheaton and Mary Onken of Naperville.

Additionally, McKinnon said, Atkinson has attended at least a dozen board meetings in the past year and is already familiar with key issues.

Nonetheless, Atkinson said he plans to spend much of the next few weeks getting to know the issues even better. His term runs through 2009, when he'll need to run for re-election to a 2-year term to stay on the board.

In the same election, three other trustees' 6-year terms are up: McKinnon's, vice chairman Mark Nowak's and Joseph Snyder's.