CREDIT HEIDI EIFFERT, STUDIOU
As a teenager, Kristie Fisher often joked with her friends that she would be president of the United States one day. Well, she is not in the Oval Office, but was recently inaugurated as Kirkwood Community College’s sixth president.
“I did always have high aspirations,” Ms. Fisher said. “For 20 years, this has been my goal. And honestly, I did believe that I could get here.”
Growing up in Shueyville, Ms. Fisher’s parents encouraged their three children to pursue a college education, despite not having one themselves. Ms. Fisher’s father worked in industrial maintenance at ADM and her mother cleaned houses; they were committed to paying her tuition, she said.
As a first-generation college student, Ms. Fisher said she “accidentally” graduated with her bachelor’s degree in communication studies from the University of Iowa in just three years. She did this by finishing her freshman and sophomore year and earning an associates degree at Kirkwood in 18 months, then finishing her junior and senior year at the University of Iowa in 18 months as well. She graduated in 1992.
She would later go on to earn a Master of Business Administration from the University of Iowa, and a P.h.D. in educational leadership and policy studies from Iowa State University.
Early in her career, she found herself back at Kirkwood, serving as the annual giving director for the Kirkwood Foundation from 1995 to 2000.
“Those first five years in the foundation were transformational in my career,” Ms. Fisher said. “I would have said that I was sure I wasn’t going to leave Kirkwood ever… Then I had two kids.”
She was looking for a more flexible schedule and had been offered a position as director of community relations with he College Community School District in Cedar Rapids. However, she promised Kirkwood’s president at the time, Norman Nielsen, that she would return.
She kept that promise and returned in 2004 to serve as the director of special projects and assistant to the president, then Mick Starcevich.
In 2006, she was named Kirkwood’s vice president of student services, leaving Kirkwood again in 2014 to become senior director/assistant vice president of national associations and market engagement for ACT, Inc. in Iowa City.
In 2019, Ms. Fisher became president of the Iowa Valley Community College District, moving her family to Marshalltown, outside of the Corridor for the first time in her life.
“It was hard for me to leave the community to go to Iowa Valley for four years,” she said. “I really enjoyed Marshalltown, the amazing people and really the community, but it wasn’t home.”
After a nationwide search by Kirkwood, Ms. Fisher was announced as president in October of 2023. Now, she’s home.
The second woman to lead Kirkwood in the institution’s nearly 60-year history, she succeeds Lori Sundberg, who served as Kirkwood’s president for five years prior to her retirement.
“If I think about what’s next, it is to work with my colleagues in the community here to figure out what Kirkwood needs to look like in the next 10 years, so that we can make sure we’re meeting student needs,” Ms. Fisher said. “During Lori’s leadership here, she put a real focus on guided pathways, which is a model that really has been proven nationally to improve student success. So I think part of what is next is continuing that good work… I think we’re gonna have to stay laser-focused on that.”
She also hopes to focus on overall community needs, specifically workforce needs.
“I expect that the critical community need is going to be workforce,” Ms. Fisher said. “Workforce programs are really expensive. So we have to make sure we manage that as we evolve, and also make sure we don’t lose sight of the importance of the arts and sciences… managing that to make sure that people understand that both sides of the college are critical to the workforce, and both sides are helping to get students into self-sustaining wages, which is really important for the community.”
Ms. Fisher’s path to her current role was not a straight shot. She said she often reminds her two grown daughters of this, and would tell her younger self to not forget to “look up.”
“There’s lots of times when I look at my career, my life, and I realize that I was focused on what I wanted to do, and I didn’t always look up and enjoy,” she said. “Be purposeful and planful, understand that it’s not going to be a straight path and don’t forget to look up and enjoy the journey you’re on.”
This profile was originally published in the CBJ’s 2024 Women of Influence publication. The 2024 Women of Influence are an inspiring group of community leaders who have each overcome adversity, taken chances and challenged themselves to make a positive impact in their community, despite demanding schedules in their personal and professional lives.
The CBJ will host the 2024 Women of Influence 20 Year Gala from 5-8:30 p.m. Thursday, May 2, at The Hotel at Kirkwood Center in Cedar Rapids. Tickets are still available to this event, which includes networking, dinner and remarks from the winners.
