Paul Dale uses experience to shape vision for college

By Kyle A. Porter, May 2010
Web Team

New PVCC president, Paul Dale, is committed to creating a better college for students and faculty.

“Go out and make it better, You can make it if you try, Try to make it better,” Carlos Santana sang in “Shades of Time” on his first album, “Santana,” released in 1969 following his appearance at Woodstock.

Paradise Valley Community College’s new president, Paul Dale, includes Santana among his favorite musicians, and the idealism of these lyrics echoes in Dale’s outlook and goals. Friends and colleagues note his vision and pursuit of excellence.

“Paul always strives to do the right thing,” says Patty Moore, associate vice president for Northern Arizona University extended campuses. “He is very idealistic.” Moore worked with Dale at NAU in Flagstaff and represented that university at PVCC when Dale started in the position of associate dean of student development.

Dale began his professional career at NAU as career services assistant director. Raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, he attended Iowa State University and the University of Wisconsin and received his Ed.D. in educational leadership at NAU. He was a founding administrator for NAU-Yuma.

Leadership is a consistent theme for Dale and resulted in his winning the job of president at Paradise Valley Community College. Dale served as interim president from July 2008 until March 23 this year when he was the finalist of a presidential search by the chancellor and confirmed by the governing board for the Maricopa County Community College District.

“Accountability is much higher,” Dale said of the new position. “I have an opportunity to influence the culture of this college to increase students’ chances to be successful.”

Dale recalls a student at NAU returning after five years to tell him he had made a difference in her life, that he had helped her. “The power of being president multiplies that influence by thousands of people each year.”

He says he knew early in his career that he wanted to work in higher education, but until he came to PVCC his only experience was in a university. “During my years on this campus, I’ve come to realize how much more students appreciate the community college experience than they do the university experience, especially the undergraduates,” Dale says.

The classroom still beckons for Dale and he has taught at NAU as an adjunct faculty member. At PVCC, he has taught in the Emerging Leaders program and AAA115, Creating College Success, at PVCC.

He recently went on a camping trip with students in the Emerging Leaders; Dale enjoys backpacking and camping for recreation. He snow skis when he can get away, he says; he went to Colorado for spring break this year. The Sierra Nevada Mountains in his native state, California, as well as the mountains and forest around Flagstaff top his list of travel destinations. “I feel connected to Alpine mountain places,” he says.

Dale met his wife, Sylvia Piceno, during his nine years in Yuma. They have a daughter and a son, both in high school. “We are very proud of Paul,” Piceno says. “He is very dedicated to PVCC and the learning and success of students.”

She says he came home from the Emerging Leaders backpack trip “energized from being able to spend time with students and be involved in their experience.”

Dale starts his day walking for exercise and likes to arrive at school early to organize his day. Though his work days tend to be long, he usually leaves work behind when he comes home, Piceno says.

Dale sees his role as a mentor to students and acknowledges mentors in his life and career. David Markee, Ph.D., was vice president for student services at NAU when Dale worked under him. “You can never be successful in higher education unless you love students and see the good in all students,” Dale remembers Markee telling him. “It’s very simple but very profound,” Dale says, “It was a strange thing to hear when I was young, but the longer I am in this profession, the more it makes sense.”

Markee is now retired as chancellor of the University of Wisconsin, Platteville. He says Dale took a leadership role in his first job. “He listens extremely well and hears everyone,” Markee says, “He has a vision to direct him but takes in everything around him.”

Before he discovered his career in education, Dale’s love of reading and literature prompted dreams of writing, he says, laughing now about those aspirations to “be the next great novelist.” He has the creativity, Dale says, but not the patience or discipline – except for the occasional academic writing he’s done, contributing chapters to books. He still loves to read, naming John Steinbeck, Luis Alberto Urrea and Pat Conroy as an eclectic cross-section of authors he admires.

All kinds of music inspire Dale, from jazz to country, Earth Wind and Fire to Santana. Dale says he’s passionate about social change and some of the music he grew up with carries that message. Pressed for a motto in life, he says, “Just because it is doesn’t mean it should be.”

Moore remembers the reaction of Gina Kranitz, president of PVCC from 1999 until her death in 2003, after Dale was hired at PVCC. Moore says Kranitz said that she was really glad PVCC had hired him and that she thought he was presidential material for the colleges.