Heart of the Flathead

Building Community Through Education

• David Wigginton • Episode 5

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What does it take for a college to truly belong to its community? Dr. Jane Karas, President of Flathead Valley Community College, joins host David Wigginton to share how listening, partnership, and follow-through have shaped FVCC into both an educational powerhouse and a community cornerstone. From her unexpected journey from the East Coast to Montana ranch life, Jane’s blend of grit and policy expertise informs a leadership style where students feel seen, supported, and known by name.

Together, we explore how FVCC fuels the Flathead Valley’s economy and culture—linking adult education, transfer programs, and industry-aligned training in fields like healthcare and manufacturing. Jane spotlights the Wachholz College Center, a world-class venue that hosts authors, climbers, and musicians, and introduces FVCC’s new Entrepreneurship Center—a collaborative hub for founders, mentors, and innovators. The thread through it all: authentic relationships and data-driven agility that keep both the college and community growing stronger together.

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Heart of the Flathead, is produced by David Wigginton, in partnership with LeftBrainRightBrain Marketing. Listeners can find the podcast online at HeartoftheFlathead.com and LeftBrainRightBrain Marketing at lbrbm.com. The content for Heart of the Flathead podcasts and any show notes and transcripts are copyrighted by David Wigginton. All rights are reserved. Reproduction and rebroadcasting, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited without written permission. Contact David Wigginton by clicking the Send Us a Text link at the top of the episode description.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or production team. Appearance on the show does not constitute an endorsement of any goods, services, or opinions discussed. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be considered professional, legal, medical, or financial advice. Always consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on the content of this show.

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to the Heart of the Flathead, where we sit down with the change makers, the unstung heroes, and everyday folks who give this place its fault. If you live here, love here, or just want to know what makes Calisbell and the Valley tick, you're in the right place. And now, here's your host, Dave Wigginton.

SPEAKER_01:

Hi, welcome to Heart of the Flathead. Excited to uh interview our guest this week, Dr. Jane Karas from uh Flathead Valley Community College. Jane, thank you for joining us today.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you for inviting me to speak with you.

SPEAKER_01:

So I know, gosh, the the community college is such a great, great part of our community with all the things that you've been a part of and helping it grow and expand from moving its location to where it is now up by the Hutton Ranch area to the dormitories, to the Walcott Center, to the different buildings that have been have been built out. So look forward to getting into some of those details today. But before we we jump into that today, I wanted to really just kind of get to know you a little bit more. You're obviously well known in the community for your involvement with the college, but I'm sure there's lots of listeners and people in our community that maybe aren't as familiar with who you are and how accomplished you are and the many awards that you've won and all the great things that you do for the Flathead Valley in connection with the college and your other activities as well. So maybe give us an idea of where are you from, what your life experience has been like, maybe where you went to school and how you ended up where you are today.

SPEAKER_02:

I'm not sure you have enough time for that whole story, but just I'll work backwards a little bit. I've been at the college for 27 years here at Flad Valley Community College, 25 as president. This is my 25th year as president, and thanks to this fabulous community, it's been a great way to spend time working with all the wonderful people who live here and our students and the businesses and industry. Before that, I worked in Helena for the Board of Regents in higher education for the state of Montana at the state level. Was able to work a lot with the different two-year colleges and did a number of different jobs before that. But I've been in Montana about 40 years now, grew up in New York State.

SPEAKER_01:

You are a doctor, you've got a PhD. Where where did you earn your, I guess, your your undergrad and then your uh your postdoctorate degrees from?

SPEAKER_02:

I went to Wellesley College in Massachusetts, and then worked for a couple of years after that as paralegal and then doing research, and then I went to the Heller School at Brandeis to get my PhD.

SPEAKER_01:

Got it. So you've you've said you've been in Montana for 40 years, so the majority of your life at this point. How what what brought you to Montana from the East Coast?

SPEAKER_02:

From after my PhD, I came out to a working guest ranch and just like many other people fell in love with Montana and the ranching life and did that for a while.

SPEAKER_01:

Really? Ranching life, that's exciting. So what what did you uh what did you do with on on the ranch?

SPEAKER_02:

Started as a wrangler, taking guests on rides and working cattle.

SPEAKER_01:

Do you still are you still involved with ranching at all today? Do you do anything like that?

SPEAKER_02:

Or no, not anymore. I I did have a very small little cattle operation for a while.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh wow. Okay. So like like ranching and selling the cows and we raised some cattle, yep. Okay. How'd that go?

SPEAKER_02:

Hard work.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, no, it is. Yeah, absolutely. Tough work.

SPEAKER_02:

You have to love the lifestyle. And it it's great. I just can't do that with the current position I'm in right now.

SPEAKER_01:

Was it your plan always to get into education? Or because obviously you ended up at the Board of Regents at Helena, and then you've ended up at uh here in the flathead. Was that your goal when you were going to school, undergrad, and and graduate and our doctorate, and or did you wind up there unintentionally?

SPEAKER_02:

I think when I was an undergraduate, I was going to be a large animal veterinarian, and then somehow shifted a bit for a number of different reasons and got more into policy and started focusing in that area, and then just had a number of different jobs while like many young people trying to decide what I wanted to do and tried a number of different things and did some work in a displaced homemaker center in Bozeman for a while and enjoyed the training and the education perspective and the policy aspects, and then went to do a lot of policy work for the Board of Regents.

SPEAKER_01:

Interesting. Yeah. So the uh the love of animals c clearly seems to be manifested in the uh the ranching lifestyle you you chose for a little bit, but uh ultimately policy was your your destination. That's that's great. What uh what do you enjoy about your current position at as president of the community college here in the FLAD?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, like I said, I think the people both in the community and and in the college and our students and all the really very talented people who work here and give back to our students and the community. It's been a great opportunity for me to be able to help provide education and training in a way that really does benefit so many people and to work with people who are committed and dedicated to doing that to ensure all of our students are successful.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's it's it is very rewarding to, I think, help people and be a part of that process. So it's uh I imagine you you find a lot of fulfillment in doing that. So as you look at your life and to where you are at this point, you've obviously had lots of stops along the way in Massachusetts and starting in New York, Massachusetts, coming to Montana, Helena, Bozeman, uh Calispel. What things have you learned that have kind of shaped who you are today and and I guess the philosophies that you use to manage your your career, manage your the college and the folks that you work with?

SPEAKER_02:

I think being a good listener is is always critical to hear different perspectives, what people are thinking, what what works well for them may work well for some other people, but maybe not for different people. So looking at how to provide opportunities to a diverse population, learning how to work in different settings and certainly knowing that every job and everybody has a perspective that's really highly valued and the work that they do is important. But especially at the college, we couldn't do what we do without everybody here from our really dedicated and top-notch custodial staff through our professionals, our student services people, our financial aid, our faculty, everybody plays a really integral role in helping our students be successful.

SPEAKER_01:

So, what what do you do specifically to foster that environment to where you are encouraging everybody to be open-minded and under you know open to different ideas and and I assume that you know compromise is a part of of that process. What's as the leader there, you're obviously an accomplished leader, what's what has worked well for you and being able to foster that type of environment?

SPEAKER_02:

Having opportunities to provide for people to uh meet together to talk about issues, different committees, different groups, different forums, having providing everybody the chance to share their perspective. And certainly there are things that I think when you're in one position, you might not realize how a decision might impact people in a different area. So getting that input from everybody before making a decision is really important, and providing that opportunity for people to share what they think, I think helps provide that, build that culture.

SPEAKER_01:

You've got a great team there. I've met a lot of the people that that are up there at the college, and I think that they're they're fabulous individuals and they do lots of good work there. And you know, I kind of want to in this next question, I want to get down to maybe a little more details versus the the higher level, but the community college obviously is a major presence in our community and offers so many resources to to families, to individuals, to the students that that are enrolled, to to everybody. What what does the college do to be an integral part of the community? How is it giving back and creating opportunities for the community to learn but to also be connected?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, community as is it's pretty evident, is a big part of a community college because it's in the name. We are a community college, we are the community's college, and our mission is really to meet the needs of our community or the communities that we serve. So continuing to connect with employers in business and industry, with citizens who live residents in the communities that we serve to find out what their needs are, what we can do to meet those, to look at the needs for workforce training or education, working closely with the school districts as well as with the university system and other colleges to help students have a seamless education opportunity and to provide that workforce training for people that want to go right into the workforce. But also our continuing education programs provide everything from adult basic education, the high school equivalency degree for students who may not have finished high school but want to go back and do that. We have that opportunity as well as providing different classes, non-credit classes for individuals who want to continue their learning in a different way or who would like to explore different interests that they might have. We have lectures to continue to provide places for people to come to hear about different types of interests they might have.

SPEAKER_01:

We have How do you determine those lectures? Like who who comes to present? Is it you have a panel or is there a group of people that are responsible for the content?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, we have a different, a different number of lecture series. So the continuing education program puts together their lectures with the interests they've received from the community. Same thing with the college center, the Walkles College Center. We look at speakers that maybe have been out nationally that may be of interest to people, sometimes authors, sometimes people that present on areas of interest that we've heard from the community, whether it's uh hiking and climbing, like a speaker on hiking or climbing Mount Everest, to Abraham Virgese, who is a medical doctor physician at Stanford, but also an author who's written several fiction books as well as nonfiction books. We had Speaker last May, and thanks to Logan Health for helping to sponsor that. I think that uh was an example of a speaker who was of interest both to book groups and people who read, as well as to the medical community because of his medical background. So it was a great way to bring a lot of different people together to hear from one speaker.

SPEAKER_01:

So it sounds like you've got a lot of support from different organizations in the community. What are some of the challenges as far as accomplishing, I guess, your mission to be that part of the community and bring this, these opportunities to learn and to connect. I guess what are those challenges and how do you work through them?

SPEAKER_02:

You know, we always think that we're getting the word out so that people know about the college and all the different things that we do because we do provide so many different types of education or learning or just entertainment in a way, arts, performing arts, all of those different facets of the college that we have. That it's always surprising when I meet somebody who doesn't even know there's a cop community college here.

unknown:

Right.

SPEAKER_02:

Finding, you know, that challenge of how do we make sure people know that we exist and and what what they can access here.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's that's always, I think, you know, just that awareness, the marketing, so to speak, is uh always always makes it uh hard for any organization to get their the good things that they're doing out there. So, you know, I I love I love the arts and technology building. I love the library. I mean, these these buildings are great, the services and the opportunities that are involved. There, my my kids do kids college. We've been, I've I've toured the library. Obviously, the Walcult Center is a great center for performing arts and and different types of programs. But you guys recently I was over there the other day and I saw the the Entrepreneur Center. Maybe tell us a little bit about that. I think that's a newer, newer building or a newer, newer department there. What's that about and how does one get involved or or learn more about it?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, thanks to Paul Walk Hults, we have a new entrepreneurship center and we've renovated a building that we currently had. So that building, we will actually have the ribbon cutting on October 30th from 5 to 7 p.m.

SPEAKER_01:

So is the community invited to that?

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, community is invited. We'd love to see people come to that and there'll be a tour of it. We are planning to do all types of different courses and modules and opportunities for entrepreneurs who are at all stages, whether it's beginning with an idea that they want to start with, they're having a unique idea for a business or a service or a product, or somebody who has started a business, but maybe at a certain point where they need support with human resources or they want to know how to take their product, become an international product. What are the trade laws to work with those different entrepreneurs at different levels? We'll be bringing in speakers, national and global speakers. We will provide mentor opportunities for entrepreneurs.

SPEAKER_01:

That's amazing. That is are you partnering with other organizations or individuals? We've obviously got entrepreneurs in our community here and some very accomplished ones at that. So any any chance that you're interacting with them and working with them on this effort?

SPEAKER_02:

So our new director, Eric Harry, has been working with different um individuals in the Valley to find out what level of interest they have in working with us and helping other entrepreneurs. We're also partnering with uh Montana West and the chain different chambers in the Valley because many of them are providing some of these opportunities too, but to coordinate our efforts to be the best resource we can be, become a hub for entrepreneurs who are at all levels.

SPEAKER_01:

That's exciting. Gosh, I mean, you think about that. I mean, I think of the community colleges that I've been around, and none of them have ever offered this breadth of service. And so, what's your secret to your vision? I mean, you've obviously been evolving this for what, 26 years now. How has this vision evolved? How have you pursued it? I mean, you're definitely a go-getter, you get things done. What keeps that going and that drive alive in you?

SPEAKER_02:

I would say it's the connection with the communities, being able to talk to people on a daily basis, having the community conversations we have almost on an annual basis and all the different communities that we serve, getting together with people to find out. I always love to hear what's going well at the college, but more importantly, I like to hear what we're not doing or what we're not doing well so that we can look at what we might need to change or to improve, or what areas we need to address to better meet the community's needs. So I would say a lot of it is just the relationships and talking to people, hearing from people, and then certainly collecting the data on what the impact has been of the things we've done so we can look at if if things are working to continue doing them, to change them, to improve them.

SPEAKER_01:

How how do the conversations occur? Are these like forums? Are they just through different groups that you that you have regular check-ins with, or how how do you go about getting that feedback in general?

SPEAKER_02:

Combination of all of the above.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

Everything from individual conversations to groups that I am a part of or organizations that I belong to as a member to community conversations that the college hosts around in communities.

SPEAKER_01:

So when you're not doing all this, getting feedback, planning, executing, growing, doing all this stuff, what what do you like to do? What are your hobbies? How do you how do you recharge?

SPEAKER_02:

Um, spend a lot of my time working. So right. I recharge by meeting people and hearing about how we've we've met their needs. That's that's actually pretty exciting for me to hear what's been working well and to hear from people.

SPEAKER_01:

Human interaction is amazing. Again, it's so funny that we are, you know, our society has become a little more closed in with technology and whatnot, but it's still for most people, it's a thrill and it's it's super invigorating to be able to interact with people and help them and do different things. How do you do you instill any of that sort of ethos or philosophy with your team, to your faculty and in into the students' lives?

SPEAKER_02:

I think everybody here, one of the great things about a community college is the relationships that can be built, everybody interconnected. And I think I can tell you a story that years ago we had a student who came from one of the larger universities in the state who started as a freshman when he was younger. And just like many students who might be in a class of 300 or 500 got lost, didn't get his work done, nobody really noticed, and he dropped out after his first semester and went to work and started a family. And then a few years later, somebody said to him, You really need to go back to college, you need to do more. And so he came here and he commuted from a town that was a good two-hour drive each way, probably, I would say. And he still worked and had his family, but he did say one time that he felt like he, wherever he went on campus, people knew his name and people knew who he was. And so he felt very connected. And I told him that is our you can run, but you can't hide policy. And so we try to really stay connected to our students. I think granted sometimes a few don't connect the way we'd like them to, but students who are connected are more successful in completing college and finishing, uh meeting their goals. So we try really hard to connect with our students and keep them connected here and it makes a difference. And I know for our team too, everybody on campus, the connections are so critical and trying not to be siloed.

SPEAKER_01:

The cheers of of community college, where some a place where everybody knows your name. So that's uh that's a great uh attribute to have. And I think that means a lot, especially for the students and and their progress because everybody does want to belong and feel like that they've got a purpose and above and beyond maybe even the classwork that they're working on. So anything else you do in your free time that you like to to recharge, maybe that's not work-related?

SPEAKER_02:

We live in such a beautiful place. I get to hike, I fish a little, I ride horses. When I have some free time, I just try to get outside and enjoy the one. Do you fly fish? I fly fish a little.

SPEAKER_01:

So more you're more just the the the the rod and spinner, and and that's great. What's uh where where do you like to fish? If you can tell, if it's a secret spot, then that that's all right.

SPEAKER_02:

I can't tell you my secret spots because I would you know I'd be in trouble if I gave those away.

SPEAKER_01:

Sure, sure. I actually, funny enough, I was on a fishing trip down on the Missouri River this last earlier this year, and I believe I heard that you were next up on the the docket down there going fishing with looking at the five.

SPEAKER_02:

I fished down the Missouri a few times. It's been really fun. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's a great, it's a great place. Great, great experience. Great experience. Well, uh Jay, what what to you does a uh a better, stronger future for our community look like? This is gonna be, I'm I can't wait to hear this, but just given your insight and perspective into our community. But from your lens, what does that look like to you?

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, I think the one of the great things about the Flathead Valley is the partnerships that exist now and the communication between business and industry and education from K-12 through the community college. That we all work well together and share our needs and share the challenges. And I think the continuation of those relationships and the communication, clean, you know, clear, transparent communication really does make a difference. And supporting the importance of education and workforce training to continue to build a strong community, provide the workforce that our employers need, but to provide that educated, well-trained workforce is really critical.

SPEAKER_01:

That's great. You know, we're we're so fortunate to have the college here. We're so fortunate to have you here at the leading that charge because I mean the vision that you've established and the things that you and your team have accomplished really are are remarkable and truly a benefit to our community. So thank you for for all that you've done and all that you continue to do. I think that it's a it's a huge, huge public service to our community and makes this place even better than what it already is.

SPEAKER_02:

I would say I have the easy job. I'm lucky that everybody here is so talented and our faculty could really teach anywhere in the world at any institution, but they've chosen to be here for many different reasons. But their focus is on student success and helping our students and the student services people, our financial aid people, our business staff, everybody is really focused on helping our students be successful. And they all do the hard work. Like I said, I have the easy job. I just talk about all the great things they do.

SPEAKER_01:

True. But every every army needs a general. So that's a good general. So that's it's great that we've got a leader like you leading that charge for us. So well, to to wrap up today, we'd like to move to uh the the flathead five, which are the questions that we ask uh all of our guests just to kind of get to know them a little bit more. So without divulging your secret fishing spots, what what are your what's your favorite hidden gem in the community?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I would say the Wacolls College Center and the McLaren Hall, because as many people as I think know about it, it's still unknown to so many people. And I think once people see it and understand the level of performance hall that we have with the acoustics and the art gallery, that it it is really life-changing, providing up possibility, endless possibilities to people here in the valley.

SPEAKER_01:

I agree. And just to add on to that, I I talk to people all the time that aren't even aware of it. So it's and I I am evangelizing, so I'm spreading the word and helping that get out there.

SPEAKER_02:

So we have a few great shows coming up too this this spring or fall and next spring.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. And the symphony's got some great stuff coming up.

SPEAKER_02:

Symphony has a lot of great shows too, so really between both organizations.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's it is it is that is definitely a gem for of our community. So we mean to make it less hidden, I guess. So okay, so Grizz or Bobcats?

SPEAKER_02:

I would say neither. FBCC. We've been undefeated since 1967 when we started.

SPEAKER_01:

Nice. Great. What's your favorite outdoor activity in the valley?

SPEAKER_02:

I would say probably horseback riding.

SPEAKER_01:

Where do you like to go horseback riding? Sorry.

SPEAKER_02:

Just wherever I can.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. Do you do you own a horse?

SPEAKER_02:

I do.

SPEAKER_01:

What do you know today that you wish you knew when you started out?

SPEAKER_02:

I think I just wish that I'd known what a great community this is when I first started. I was getting to meet a lot of people and getting to know people before you get to know them. You're just unsure of what the response and the reception will be. And if I had known how welcoming this community was for the community college, it probably would have made me feel a little more at ease when I started.

SPEAKER_01:

When your story's over, what do you want the one or two-sentence review on your book to be?

SPEAKER_02:

That I was able to change lives through education.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, Jane, I I can't thank you enough today. And I know you are incredibly busy, and I thank you for carving out some time to speak with us today. I think this has been a very informative uh podcast today, and I think that hopefully uh lots of people in our community get a chance to listen to and get to know you and all the great things that you and your team are doing up there at the college. So thank you again for your time and for being here today.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you so much for having me. And just tell people that come check out the college. We offer everything for everybody. So love to have more people know about us.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. Thank you again, Jane.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you. Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_00:

Thanks for listening to this episode of Heart of the Flathead. We'd love to hear your thoughts about today's episode and the podcast in general. You can listen at heart of the flathead.com or wherever you listen to podcasts. And you can reach David via the contact page at heart of the flathead.com or by clicking on the send us feedback link at the top of the episode description and your favorite podcast app.