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On Top At OCC

Judy Wiser's new position includes overseeing a
$100-million operating budget.

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udith Wiser, elected chair-
person of the Oakland Corn-
munity College Board of
Trustees on July 2, has an
agenda for her two-year term —
decentralizing campus adminis-
tration, expanding the liberal arts
program and tightening controls
on property decisions.
As the only Jewish chairperson
in OCC's 31-year history, Mrs.
Wiser also would like to see ex-
panded Jewish interest in student
and staff opportunities.
"I first decided to run for
trustee because I had taught at
the college, thought it was won-
derful and wanted involvement
in policy areas," said Mrs. Wiser,
who won her initial six-year term
in 1986, when about a dozen'can-
didates were vying for three seats.
`The trustee post represented
the first elective office I ever con-
sidered, and I was able to raise
$5,000 in campaign funds. Since
the beginning, I've put in about
20 hours a week."
Members of the seven-person
governing board are elected on a
nonpartisan, at-large basis by vot-
ers living within the OCC district,
which roughly coincides with
Oakland County. The board
chooses its officers.
Trustees serve without com-
pensation although expenses are
paid for travel to meetings
planned by the Michigan Com-
munity College Association and
the American Community Col-
lege Trustees.
Mrs. Wiser's current priorities
are based on her experiences at
the school, where she earned a
paralegal associate's degree while
serving on the board. At the time,
she already held a bachelor's de-
gree in education from Wayne
State University.
"So many decisions that we
make are based on legal issues,
and this program made those is-
sues clearer to me," she said.
"I also work with my husband,
Pino, in his dental office, and the
classes have been helpful there,
too."
Mrs. Wiser's commitment to
education builds on years of
teaching English in Detroit Pub-
lic Schools and ballet at OCC, as
well as at private dance acade-
mies she established.
Her interest in decentralizing
college administration reflects a
conviction that each of the school's
five campuses should be directed
by an expert in that campus's con-
centration. At Auburn Hills, for
example, the focus is high-tech.
She believes the addition of lib-
eral arts subjects is particularly

OCC Chair Judy Wiser

important for students needing a
strong foundation to move on to
four-year institutions.,
Property concerns stem from
an early battle that had her fight-
ing to retain a portion of college
land in Auburn Hills. She lost
that battle and feels the school
lost the benefits of rising proper-
ty values.
Mrs. Wiser considers making
more scholarships available
among her most _ important
achievements as she oversees an
operating budget of $101.7 mil-
lion, an annual enrollment of
78,000 students and degree and
certificate programs in 90 career
fields.
"After we sold $2 million in
right-of-way land in Auburn Hills,
I suggested we place that mon-
ey into a scholarship fund instead
of a general fund," said the chair-
person, who also reached out to
the public by volunteering to pro-
duce an OCC-sponsored adapta-
tion of the Nutcracker ballet
shown on Channel 56.
In response to Jewish students,
she worked at making sure the
faculty understood why there
should be no penalties for High
Holy Day absences. In another
initiative, she invited her broth-
er-in-law, Israeli physicist and au-
thor Nathon Aweiser, to speak to
the campus community about Is-
raeli educational programs.
'e are about to have our first
trustee retreat in several years,
and I hope this provides anoth-
er way for coming up with cre-
ative ideas for the college," Mrs.
Wiser said. "Our agenda includes
school structure, public relations,
labor concerns and our mission
statement."
The retreat will be held 9:30
a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, at
the Townsend Hotel in Birm-
ingham, and it is open to the
public. ❑

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