IV Leader Associate Editor
Illinois Valley Community College has a new interim-president this school year, Charles Novak.
Novak will head the college while the IVCC Board of Advisors searches for a permanent replacement.
Novak rejoins the college after getting his start in college administration 31 years ago as the Associate Dean of Instruction for Continuing Education, replacing Jean Goodnow who left to become the president at Delta Community College in Michigan.
Novak said, “Currently the college is in the beginning stages of looking for a new president, which entails creating a college profile and prospectus. In order to do that we need to work with the board, administration, and faculty to decide what strengths and weaknesses the college has, where we want to go in the future, and what do we want to see in a new president.”
“I am fortunate to be joining a great staff. Currently, IVCC is in good financial state. All colleges in the state are strapped for cash and could use additional funding for projects. There are a lot of good folks here that are taking care of things and making sure that we don’t over-spend anywhere. The Board will be going through a yearly audit in a few weeks, but it seems like there won’t be any surprises. The board members here seem like good people that genuinely want to make IVCC a great place to go to college.”
“We are also working on the ‘Master Plan,’ which Dr. Goodnow was developing.” The “Master Plan” is a development plan that each college strives to achieve in a certain time-frame. The IVCC master plan calls for additional buildings, improvements in the parking lots, and changes to the classrooms.
Novak served as an interim-president at Morton College in Cicero, retired as president from Richland Community College in 2001, served as president of Olney Central College, and as vice-chancellor for academic and financial affairs at Illinois Eastern Community College.
He graduated from Southern Illinois University, received his graduate degree from Illinois State University, and earned his doctorate in higher education from the University of Illinois.
Novak said that after this he “is looking forward to returning to his small farm in Du Quoin and catching up on things.”
Novak has two sons and recently celebrated the new arrival of a granddaughter, Genevie.
