New COCC board chair Erica Skatvold has been a student, too

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Central Oregon Community College’s board of directors recently selected Erica Skatvold of Bend to chair the 2020-21 year, a leadership post she will hold through June of 2021, the culmination of her four-year term.

Skatvold previously served as vice chair of the seven-person board, representing Zone 4, which covers most of Bend.

“I ran for a seat on the board in 2017 because of my passion for COCC, its students, faculty and how it interacts with and supports the community,” she said. “It’s an honor to serve as the COCC board chair, especially during this unprecedented and challenging time. I look forward to leading the board in a time when COCC is testing how it delivers current and new services to our community, now and into the future.”

Having grown up in Bend — where, as a student at Bend Senior High School, she took classes at COCC through the college’s dual-credit program — Skatvold’s background combines local community understanding with first-hand COCC student experience. More recently, in the 2018-19 academic year, she was an enrolled student at COCC, working on nursing program prerequisites.

“The experience taking those prerequisites rivaled or surpassed my experience at private universities,” she said, “and gave me very relevant perspective on what it’s like to be a student at COCC taking in-person and online classes, from registering to advising to the surveys at the end.”

Skatvold is the director of quality management at St. Charles Healthcare System and serves on the Deschutes Public Library’s budget committee.
“Erica brings a unique perspective to the position of board chair, and that is particularly valuable, especially now,” said Laurie Chesley, COCC’s president. “I am looking forward to working with her.”