by Stephen Cook
President Joe Sopcich let editor-in-chief, Stephen Cook, shadow him on Oct. 10. Beginning at 6 a.m. and finishing around 9 p.m., Cook learned what it is like to lead the college in the role of president for a day. For Cook’s personal insights, read his column here.
As a professor:
In addition to his role as college president, Sopcich also teaches a section of BUS 121, Introduction to Business, on Monday evenings. He currently has 14 students in the class.
“It’s just a lot of fun and they’re great students,” Sopcich said. “For me it’s kind of a break because they’re not going to ask me questions like I [get asked by faculty and staff].”
Although the students in his class now know he is the college president, not all knew when they first signed up for the course.
“It’s a lot of fun to see former students in the hall, because they think it’s pretty funny,” Sopcich said.
Getting to interact with students also allows Sopcich to see the college from another perspective.
“I also ask them about their experience,” Sopcich said. “How was your experience with enrolling, how was your experience with counseling how was your experience paying your bill – because I want to hear what things do you like about campus, what’s your most favorite thing, what are some issues you have.”
On and off campus events:
Sopcich spends time on campus working to lead the college, but also works off-campus in the community to promote and maintain the image of the college on a wider level.
“A part of this job is representing the college,” Sopcich said. “You’re kind of an ambassador to the college.”
For example, on Oct. 10, Sopcich had several functions, including an in-service, luncheon, a reception and a dinner that had him interacting with both individuals from the college and across the county and state.
“You’re developing relationships,” Sopcich said. “Hopefully you can convert those relationships to things that will help benefit the students here at the college.”
Sopcich said he is not alone in representing the college. Due to the widespread influence of the institution, he relies on the help of individuals such as Judy Korb, EVP, Instruction and Operations, and Dick Carter, the college’s government liaison to help with this.
“That’s why you need this infrastructure of people to really focus on, to get this stuff done,” Sopcich said. “Not everybody understands that, but as far as what the job entails, they just think that’s all we do is deal with everything that’s here.”
Managing stress and time:
With the daily responsibility of being college president, Sopcich has several ways that he makes sure he gets everything done without going crazy.
“The most important thing that you have to have are the people who work around you,” Sopcich said. “You really have to have a good team that’s basically carrying so much of the load which is very important.”
With all that goes on at the college, Sopcich said he simply can’t personally take on every issue. The need to delegate tasks and responsibilities is crucial.
Additionally, Sopcich believes it is important to take everything with a certain degree of moderation.
“You have to be careful not to overreact or underreact,” Sopcich said. “But if you tended to overreact to everything you heard during the course of the day, it would be chaos.”
Throughout each day, Sopcich faces many different issues and situations that he must consider and make a decision about.
“You have to be real sensitive and try to be patient about dealing with things,” Sopcich said. “That’s why running in the morning is great because you kind of get it out of your system, you have time to think about it or you can talk about it, but it’s a cleansing deal.”
In order to make sure he has enough time to do everything, Sopcich will come in on the mornings on weekends if he is in town. On average, he receives around 300 emails a day.
Sopcich has also been coming to grips with the realization of the responsibility that the position brings.
“I reported to this position for over 20 years and once you get behind that desk it’s totally different,” Sopcich said. “You’re often kind of struck by the responsibility that you have.”
At the end of the day:
At the end of a day, Sopcich said he is often inspired by the previous events in the day.
“You feel very, very fortunate and happy that you work at a great place where this type of stuff’s happening,” Sopcich said. “Clearly you can see the quality is remarkable.”
Throughout the course of a day, Sopcich interacts with a variety of community leaders, many of whom are contributors or supporters of the college. Always being “on” and needing to be alert and ready to communicate can be “a little exhausting,” Sopcich said. However, it is fun because of the range of people he gets to meet and be around.
After a long day, Sopcich said once he gets home there isn’t much time to do anything else.
“You literally just get ready for bed and go to bed,” Sopcich said. “[Then you] get ready for the next day and you go at it again. That’s what it’s all about, that’s what you sign up for.”
Contact Stephen Cook, editor-in-chief, at scook35@jccc.edu.