Walla Walla Community College Welcomes New President

Walla Walla Community College announced the hiring of their new President, Derek Brandes Wednesday.

Brandes said he’s excited to work with a community college with so much agriculture education.

“Because it constantly changes. You need so many different skill sets to be successful now in agriculture and I think that’s the fun part of working in agriculture education.”

WWCC has several tracks in agriculture science, business, engineering and much more.

Brandes helped devise the agriculture program previously when the college wanted to revitalize it, and he hopes to continue that work with new technologies.

“We’re just going to continue to grow and nurture what we’ve done in aligning our programs with what industry and agriculture producers need.”

Brandes said much of his first year is to get out into the community and meet with people and find any gaps in what the school teaches, and what the job markets are looking for.

Brandes’ first day as the new President is July 1.

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