Departing COD president says new job 'searched for me'
Until the call came, College of DuPage President Ann Rondeau had no plans to leave the Glen Ellyn school.
But the guy on the other end of the phone two weeks ago was Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer, and he was offering Rondeau, a retired vice admiral, a chance to once again serve her country by becoming the next president of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.
In that new role, the 67-year-old Rondeau would help a broader effort to transform and modernize education in the Navy and Marine Corps - with a special emphasis on science, technology, engineering and math.
"I did not search for this job," Rondeau said. "The job searched for me."
Her decision to step down from COD partly into her third year here was announced this week.
She will start her new job in January and was formally introduced Wednesday during a visit to the California graduate school that offers advanced degrees to U.S. military officers, Department of Defense civilian employees and military officers from other nations.
"I consider it a calling," Rondeau said. "Just as I had considered coming here to College of DuPage a calling, I considered this a calling."
Rondeau became the sixth president in the history of COD - and the first woman to hold the post - when she was appointed in May 2016 in the wake of the firing of former President Robert Breuder.
She officially took the reins at the state's largest community college on July 1 of that year at a time when the Higher Learning Commission had threatened the school's accreditation by placing it on two years' probation and COD's faculty union had taken a historic "no confidence" vote in her predecessor.
Rondeau's approach, which combined a military bearing with an ability to connect with students, faculty and the community, almost immediately helped bring order to a chaotic situation.
But it was her extensive military career that caught the attention of Secretary Spencer.
Rondeau retired from the Navy as a three-star admiral in 2012 after becoming only the second woman to achieve the rank. Her previous positions included deputy commander of the U.S. Transportation Command in Illinois, Pentagon director/chief of staff for the U.S. Navy Staff, commander of the Navy Personnel Development Command in Virginia, and commander of the Naval Service Training Command at Great Lakes.
She also is a past president of the National Defense University in Washington.
"He (Spencer) knew me," Rondeau said. "He knew my work."
Spencer also was aware of COD's work on STEM education and Innovation DuPage, a new business incubator and accelerator. As president of the Naval Postgraduate School, Rondeau said she will help the Navy and Marine Corps modernize graduate education in the STEM fields.
Before accepting the job, Rondeau spoke with COD board Chairwoman Deanne Mazzochi.
"She understood the impact on the College of DuPage," Rondeau said. "But she also understood the importance to the Navy and the Marine Corps and the nation. Being the leader that she is, she said she would support it and talk to the other trustees."
The COD board already is working on a succession plan and will discuss the appointment of an interim president on Thursday. The interim president will begin work Jan. 1.
Rondeau says she won't have any input into the selection, but she will spend her remaining time at COD assisting with the transition.
She said she believes the college is in "great shape" and on a path to "an even brighter future." She said she's leaving with a sense of optimism about what it has become.
"Look at what the team has done," Rondeau said. "We got off probation. Our Moody's rating is excellent. We have been doing Innovation DuPage, which is making a difference. I can go down the list of things that this place is doing, and that's the point.
"We're not stuck," she said. "We're moving along. That's very gratifying to me."