GARY | Ivy Tech Community College Chancellor J. Guadalupe Valtierra will retire from the college after 17 years effective Dec. 31, the college announced Monday.
Valtierra has led the college's northwest region — which includes campuses in Gary, East Chicago, Valparaiso and Michigan City — since 2002.
"Working collaboratively over the years with the outstanding Ivy Tech faculty and staff in the northwest region has provided me the opportunity to continually grow personally and professionally," Valtierra said in a statement issued Monday morning. "We have dared to dream and as a result, many great things, both with Ivy Tech and with our business and community partners, have taken hold in this region.
"I am proud to have had a role in advancing quality educational access and growth opportunities within our communities."
During Valtierra's tenure, enrollment in Ivy Tech's northwest region grew by more than 70 percent. Valtierra oversaw completion of the college's new Valparaiso campus, which opened in 2006 and included a successful capital campaign which raised $3.9 million, exceeding the $2 million goal.
The current capital campaign already raised $3.9 million of the $4.5 million goal and includes acquiring the Michigan City-Pejic Campus and a $2 million gift from the Foundations of East Chicago for the college's East Chicago-De La Garza campus.
Valtierra also launched the Gerald I. Lamkin Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center which manages the Society of Innovators and the Dare to Dream initiative and authored successful grants bringing more than $1 million in support services to first-generation, low-income or students with a disability.
"We thank Lupe for his 17 years of service and his focus on students," Ivy Tech President Thomas J. Snyder said. "Ivy Tech has a much different presence in the northwest part of our state today with over 16,000 students choosing the community college each year.
"In addition, we have seen our partnerships with business and industry expand over the last decade and we are positioning ourselves to be the workforce training partner for various companies in a number of different communities."
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