July 27, 2016
The
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INSIDE
Week in Review
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Sponsored by:
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L OCAL N EWS
PCC Hires New Leader
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Mark Mitsui picked from Obama Administration
O PINION
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S PORTS
M ETRO
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A leader from President Obama’s My Brother’s
Keeper initiative and a former Seattle educator
will be the next president of Portland Community
College.
Mark Mitsui, the current deputy assistant sec-
retary for community colleges within the Office
of Career, Technical and Adult Education for the
U.S. Department of Education, will be hired as
PCC’s seventh president. The selection by the
PCC board of directors was made public Thurs-
day after a nationwide search.
Among his many duties to advance President
Obama’s community college agenda, Mitsui was
co-leader the My Brother’s Keeper Postsecond-
ary Completion interagency team, which strives
to improve college access and completion for the
nation’s young men of color.
Mitsui will begin his work with PCC on Aug.
29, replacing Sylvia Kelley, the college’s exec-
utive vice president, who has served as interim
president since the departure of Jeremy Brown in
May 2015.
“The board of directors was tremendously
impressed by President Mitsui’s passion for the
transformative power of community colleges, and
by his clear understanding of PCC’s complex en-
vironment,” said Gene Pitts, PCC’s board chair.
“He brings demonstrated strengths as a strate-
gic thinker and transparent decision-maker, and
he is a passionate advocate for social justice and
inclusion. Coupled with his wealth of regional
and national connections, President Mitsui is a
natural fit for PCC and one who we believe will
benefit the students and communities we serve,”
said Pitts.
Prior to working in Washington, D.C., Mitsui
was the president of North Seattle College where
he was the founding chair of the Asian Pacific Is-
lander Association of Colleges and Universities,
was a member of the National Asian/Pacific Is-
lander Council of the American Association of
Mark Mitsui will serve as Portland Community
College’s seventh president.
Community Colleges, and in 2013 was honored
for contributions to the Multicultural Student Ser-
vices Directors Council of Washington state.
He also served as the vice president of Student
Services at South Seattle College, from 2006 to
2010, and he has worked as an administrator and
teacher at a variety of other educational institu-
tions throughout the Pacific Northwest over the
course of his career.
Mitsui holds a bachelor’s degree in physical
education from Western Washington University.
He has pursued doctoral studies in Educational
Leadership and Policy at the University of Wash-
C ontinued on P age 14
Former Miracles Director Sentenced
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Arts &
ENTERTAINMENT
C LASSIFIEDS
C ALENDAR
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A former director at the Mir-
acles Club has met his fate for
the theft of $144,000 from the
non-profit organization which
serves Portland’s African Ameri-
can community.
Herman Bryant, 59, was sen-
tenced Wednesday to three years
in prison for embezzling the mon-
ey over two years and then gam-
bling it away at Spirit Mountain
Casino, southwest of Portland.
Multnomah County Circuit Court
Judge Henry Kantor ordered him
to repay the entire amount, a sum
that “is going to live with you for
the rest of your life.”
Herman Bryant
His attorney, Drake Durham,
reiterated how Bryant maintained
being clean and sober for 16 years
before his downfall, so he could
work with those in need. He also
won praise from another non-prof-
it, JOIN, for helping place home-
less individuals back into perma-
nent housing.
The Miracles Club began back
in 1993 as a home base for mem-
bers of the community suffering
from drug, alcohol and other ad-
dictions. Officials said Bryant
himself has suffered from such
addictions, including a gambling
addiction.