The Williston State College Foundation welcomes incoming WSC President Dr. Ray Nadolny. We talked to Dr. Nadolny about his family, his vision for the college, and what he sees as his leadership role in helping fulfilling that vision.

Accomplishments. Dr. Nadolny, 47, who received a Ph. D. in education from Oregon State, brings an impressive record for developing colleges. He served for 15 years as teacher and administrator at Cochise Community College in Arizona before becoming vice president of Lake Washington Technical College in 2000, a school of 4,800 students in Kirkland, Washington.

While at Lake Washington, Nadolny successfully authored $40 million in capital project grants received from the state of Washington. These funds produced a campus health center, health science lab, and numerous building expansions.

Nadolny, who characterizes his leadership style as “inclusive, decisive and inspirational,” led an additional campaign resulting in a crowning achievement in 2008, seeing a need to help skilled technical workers who were unable to obtain management roles within their industries.

“College graduates needed a bachelor’s degree to advance to these positions, and I advocated for it to our state legislature. Now I believe Lake Washington is the only technical college in the nation with a bachelor’s degree in applied technology.”

Vision for WSC. Does this indicate exciting days ahead at Williston State College? Nadolny refuses independent projections for the Williston community. “What happens will be what the community can support,” he said, believing the community’s and the college’s ambitions must work hand in glove.

“My first objective is to hear from as many college, business and community supporters of Williston State as I can. Every community has a shared story that must first be understood for us to determine where we fit into that story, and what our role is to serve that community.”

“When it clarifies its identity, Williston State College can say to the community, ‘We’re here. This is what we offer. This is how we can be of service.’ From that we can build a sense of pride, and get excited about who we are as a college.”

A vision for how and in what areas to build the capacity of the college arises from this process, he said.

Family and hobby. Dr. Nadolny is joined by his accomplished wife, Joyce Shui, and their four girls, Kiana, 10, Sophia, 8, Julia, 2, and Emma, 1. “They are my paparazzi,” he said of the girls with a note of joy. “I am fortunate to have been married later in life.”

Dr. Nadolny characterized his wife as “brilliant” and “much more interesting than me.”

Ms. Shui, an Asian-American and a lawyer, has served as a corporate executive of companies such as Avanade, a Seattle-based software consulting firm. She is active in the bilingual education of children. Her own children are fluent in English and Mandarin Chinese, and are learning Japanese, French and Cantonese.

Nadolny sees Williston offering an important strength to his family, he said.

“Where we have lived, people can be like trees in Washington, nice but with shallow roots. Our experience in Williston is that people are very rooted, and I want my children to grow up with relationships that are firmly planted, more lifelong, with greater commitment, security and support.”

As an avid outdoorsman and hiker, Nadolny looks forward to new terrain and plans to explore both the Badlands to the south and destinations near his sister-in-law’s family, four hours north, in Moose Jaw, Canada. He has climbed in Peru as well as Mts. Rainier and Whitney, the highest peak in the continental U.S. “I’m reading Lewis and Clark books about their time in North Dakota.”

But these personal opportunities double as new opportunities for Williston State and the surrounding communities.

“We used to call community colleges ‘opportunity colleges’ because that’s what they create,” he said. “A college is a valuable resource to the community it serves. Part of my job is to motivate people to talk about that. When we do that and build together, people are just going to be overwhelmed about what can take place.”