James Minkler brings with him a strong administrative background — and an open mind — about how to lead Grays Harbor College into the future, saying it has been an institution thoughfully managed by its past president, board of directors and staff.

Minkler took over July 1 as the new president of GHC and succeeds Ed Brewster, who retired over the summer. Classes there begin Monday.

The new president of GHC was vice president of Learning and chief academic officer of Spokane Falls Community College. He holds a doctorate in higher education administration and his pre-doctoral studies were in philosophy and history. All of his degrees were earned at the University of Idaho.

Minkler said he wasn’t planning to make immediate changes in an institution that has been so well led by Brewster and a staff that students consider highly committed to their success.

“I need to spend the first year listening and learning. Someone coming in with a fully formed vision for the college is not the kind of leader the community wants,” he said. “It would probably be a poor fit.”

Minkler shadowed Brewster for a month and gained valuable insights from staff and others in the community he has met so far.

“I want to continue to build onto some of the things my predecessor started. I want to continue to focus on partnerships,” he said. “Grays Harbor College’s vision statement is to be a catalyst for positive change.”

When he finished his master’s work at Idaho back in the late 1970s he began looking for a job in education. But the economy was in a recession and jobs were hard to find. He ended up in sales so he could pay the bills.

“I was wishing I was teaching,” he remembered.

He heard workers were clamoring to learn English in Japan during that country’s economic boom of the 1980s and decided to try his luck.

“Employers were offering their workers English language classes during the evenings,” he said. “It was a way for employees at those corporations to get ahead.”

But he couldn’t find a job teaching English quickly enough. He did what seemed to be the next best thing — took a job at a company that sold language lessons to corporations.

Minkler’s unique background caught the eye of corporate executives there who wanted him to provide them with private English language and U.S. business etiquette lessons. He ended up teaching full time and worked his way up to school administration in Japan.

He continued an administrative career path after he returned to the United States and was employed by the Community Colleges of Spokane.

Minkler also appreciates the role a college such as GHC has in a rural area.

He spent his youth in rural Idaho and southeast Washington. A graduate of Pomeroy High School, he was an athletic teen who used his track abilities to obtain a scholarship to attend UI.

“A community college serves as the cultural hub as well as the academic hub,” he said. “Spokane Falls didn’t have that role because of Gonzaga University. I missed that. … Coming here felt like it was taking me back to my roots.”

That translates into involvement in such civic groups as Rotary Club and Our Aberdeen. Further strengthening connections between the college and local high schools, four-year institutions, employers and the community at large is a continuing goal for GHC, he said.

That includes stronger research ties between the state’s universities and its community colleges as well as more technical programs that allow high school students to obtain transferable credits that could be used for future coursework at the community college level.

High schoolers, he said, “should be able to know what they need to do to go into a vocation.”

Shorter-term training for adults looking to move up the career ladder remains an important thing for community colleges to provide.

Finding ways to better serve Pacific County residents is also something the college should pursue, he said. It’s not a huge service area but could be expanded by “doing some good listening” and practicing “an efficient and effective use of resources,” he said.

Enhancing diversity and global awareness on campus could result from development of international school programs. His living abroad informed his opinion about how it could benefit the community, he said.

“We are a gateway to the Pacific Rim,” he said about the region.

The deep-water port and international trade with Asia is one reason why further developing global awareness is important, he said. He would like to assist the college in helping “our residents leverage that.”

Minkler and his wife, Yoko, have been married for nearly 28 years. They met in Japan after friends decided they might make a good couple and matched them up. Their first date was to a baseball game and they really seemed to hit it off.

The pair had a language barrier to overcome in those days but found a delicious way to do it: “We communicated through eating,” he said.

Yoko will join her husband here at the end of this month. She’s been manager of Nutrition Services for Spokane Public Schools.

They have two adult sons who are busy these days working toward their own higher education goals. Abe, 24, lives here in Aberdeen and is studying business management online at Western Governors University. Doug, 21, is in Seattle attending graduate school at the University of Washington.