in this issue

MCTV Kicks Off

Kranitz and Atwater Named Presidents

Dr. Georgina Kranitz is the new President of Paradise Valley Community College. Dr. Kranitz has served as interim president for the past two years. Dr. Kranitz began her career with the Maricopa Community Colleges in 1969 at Glendale Community College and held posts at the District Office and South Mountain. She came to PVCC in 1992 as Dean of Administrative and Student Services.

Kranitz is active in many community and professional organizations. She is a member of the board of directors of the North Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, where its president, Don Sprigings, commented, "The business community here has had a long history of strong relations with the college and especially over the last couple of years that Gina has been there. We're very pleased for her and the college and excited about the growth that's anticipated at the school." She is a past chair of the National Association of College and University Business Officers as well as currently serving on the board of directors and its editorial board, and is a member of the Arizona Community College Business Officers Council, the National Council of Community College Business Officers, the American Association of Women in Community Colleges and the Arizona Community College Presidents' Association.

Dr. Jim Jurs, Superintendent of Paradise Valley Unified School District, remarked on the appointment, "From my perspective, it's reassuring that someone who has the long and deep understanding of the community is in a position to continue the good relations between the college and PVUSD." Her additional service work includes serving as past president of the Western Association of College and University Business Officers, and as a member of the Western Association of College Auxiliary Services, the American Association of Community Colleges, the American Association of University Women, the American Executive and Professional Women's Association, the American Association of Women Deans and Counselors and Phi Theta Kappa, an education honors society.

Locally, Kranitz has been a precinct committeewoman, a member of the Arizona Women's Political Caucus and a former delegate to the Arizona Presidential Nominating Committee. In 1999, she received the Maricopa Community College's Women's Leadership Distinguished Achievement Award. She has received Distinguished Alumni Achievement Awards from both Nova Southeastern University and Grand Valley State University. For the past three years, she has been selected as one of the top ten women in higher education in the state of Arizona by the Today's Arizona Woman magazine.

Her doctorate is from Nova Southeastern University and she has a MA in Education from ASU.

Dr. Kenneth H. Atwater, currently the Vice President of Student Services at Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek, MI, will become the new President of South Mountain on July 1. Dr. Atwater has twenty years of experience in community colleges. As a community college leader, Dr. Atwater has launched valuable programs and efforts in community service and development, economic development, community wide training and job preparation, occupational/technical and school-to-work initiatives and community wide responses to welfare reform. Initiatives have included joint ventures with Battle Creek's Block Grant Committee, Urban League, Workforce Development Board, and more. In addition, he initiated links with the Battle Creek Health System, the public schools of Battle Creek, and with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. He has served on the boards of the Southwestern Michigan Urban League, the Battle Creek Chapter of the American Red Cross, the Battle Creek United Way, the Northeast Regional Council of Black American Affairs of the American Association of Community Colleges, and has been Vice Chair of the Board of the National Institute for Student Success.

Dr. Atwater earned his Ph.D. in Higher Education (with a focus on community colleges) from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Ill., in 1989. He earned a Master of Science degree in Guidance and Counseling in 1978 and a Bachelor of Science degree in Speech and Theater, and also Sociology, in 1977, all from Murray State University in Murray, Ky. He is also a graduate of the prestigious Executive Leadership Institute of the League for Innovation in the Community College, and is a graduate of the Institute for Leadership Effectiveness, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.