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Oakton Community College Names Finalists in Presidential Search

(February 6, 2015)  After a nationwide search, Oakton’s 15-member Presidential Search Committee has selected three finalists to present to the Board of Trustees for the position of Oakton Community College President: Edythe Abdullah, J.D.; Joianne L. Smith, Ph.D.; and Kristine M. Young, Ed.D.

All three candidates will visit Oakton in February to meet with administrators, faculty, students, staff, and the public. The Board will also interview candidates at this time, and will authorize the appointment of the College’s fourth president during a future board meeting. Oakton’s new president will assume her position on July 1, 2015.

Edythe Abdullah, J.D., is currently the special advisor to the president, University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida. She previously served as president of Essex County College in Newark, New Jersey. Abdullah was also president of the downtown campus of Florida State College at Jacksonville.

She received her juris doctor degree from the University of Florida, Holland Law Center in Gainesville, and was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1996. In addition, Abdullah earned two bachelor of arts degrees from Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana.

Joianne L. Smith, Ph.D., is vice president for student affairs at Oakton Community College, where she also served as dean of students. Before joining the College, Smith was the assistant director of university residential life at Northwestern University in Evanston, and dean of Brainerd Commons, Middlebury College, in Middlebury, Vermont. She was a postdoctoral fellow and instructor of counseling and mental health services at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York, and a member of the adjunct psychology faculty at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia.

Smith earned her doctorate of philosophy and a master of science degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and her bachelor of science degree from Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio.

Kristine M. Young, Ed.D., is the vice president for academic services and chief academic officer at Parkland College in Champaign. Prior to her current position, she served as department chair of natural sciences. Young was also an associate professor of chemistry at Parkland.

Young received her doctorate of education from the Community College Executive Leadership Program at the University of Illinois-Champaign. She earned her master of science degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her bachelor of science degree from Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Oakton Community College District 535 serves more than 450,000 residents in the communities of Evanston, Glencoe, Glenview, Golf, Kenilworth, Lincolnwood, Morton Grove, Niles, Northbrook, Northfield, Park Ridge, Skokie, Wilmette, Winnetka, and parts of Des Plaines, Mount Prospect, and Rosemont. With campuses in Des Plaines and Skokie, in sites throughout the district, and via a robust online presence, Oakton offers associates degrees in 80 fields of study as well as learning opportunities for career advancement and personal enrichment.

Alumni Profile

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Paul Johnson developed a passion for psychology at Oakton. Now he wears two hats - Professor of student development and Professor of psychology.