Des Moines Area Community College's fourth and longest-serving president, Rob Denson, is retiring after 22 years at the helm of the now location, nearly 22,student institution. Denson surpassed the year record of predecessor Joseph Borgen in December He will remain in the job until Dec. The DMACC trustees will hire a consultant to conduct a national search for a replacement, the release said.
Previously president of Northeast Iowa Community College, Denson has spent more than 40 years in higher education. Davis and Southridge locations. His term as president hasn't been entirely without controversy. In the past year, he tangled with Drake University over a lawsuit accusing DMACC of co-opting a Drake design when the community college adopted a square-D logo that the court decided did indeed bear a striking resemblance to the private college's, and ordered DMACC to remove.
Proceedings in the case continue. DMACC Board President Joe Pugel led the candidate search that resulted in Denson's hiring, and said in the release that Denson stood out from other candidates with his "a student-first mindset and the ability to form important partnerships.
One of the partnerships Denson forged reflects his personal style, which, according to the release, includes starting his workday before a.
He told the Des Moines Register in that he forged the tie when he was still president of Northeast Iowa Community College and bonded with a truck dealer in Dubuque over his fond memories of working his way through Iowa State University driving a semi for a feed mill in his boyhood home of Homestead. The dealer began lending him semis to use and the relationship has carried over in his time at DMACC with a series of loaner trucks in the school's blue color.
