Dr. Jo Alice Blondin, president of Clark State College has been elected as Vice Chair of the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) Board of Trustees; her tenure is effective immediately. Blondin will then assume the position as Chairperson of the HLC Board of Trustees for two years beginning in 2022.

Blondin has served the Higher Learning Commission in multiple capacities since 2005: as a peer reviewer, a contributor to the Assessment Academy Design Team, an Institutional Actions Council member, and since 2018, as a Board Trustee, and most recently, as the Chair of the Committee on Trustees.

“It is my absolute privilege to be named Vice Chair of the Board, and I look forward to my future role as Chair,” said Blondin. “My passion for accreditation as a driver for innovation, transparency, and student success is evident in my comprehensive commitment to the work of the Higher Learning Commission and my championing of accreditation principles at every institution that I have served.”

Blondin said the Higher Learning Commission provides to its members, and more importantly, to students and the public, an assurance of quality in higher education, across a diversity of missions, as well as guidance for continuous improvement. 

Blondin was first elected to a four-year term on the HLC Board of Trustees in 2018. She became the fifth president of Clark State College on July 1, 2013. Blondin focuses all of her efforts on realizing the mission of the institutions she has served and is known for both her student-centered approach and her emphasis on workforce development.

“Dr. Blondin’s expertise has been invaluable during her tenure on the Higher Learning Commission Board of Trustees. We recognize the depth of her experience in higher education and wisdom in her contributions to the board, informed by a career of exemplary service to students,” said HLC President Barbara Gellman-Danley. “We are looking forward to her increased leadership on the board as vice chair"

The HLC accredits colleges and universities in the United States. The Board has primary responsibility in three areas: HLC policy; finances and planning; and institutional actions: direct decision-making regarding initial status, sanction, withdrawal of accreditation and change of ownership.