Since first opening its doors in the borrowed barracks of the shuttered James Connally Air Force Base in September 1966, McLennan Community College has been led by just two presidents. The college’s first president, Wilbur Ball, served for 22 years, followed by Dennis Michaelis, who retired Aug. 31 after 21 years.

On Sept. 1, Dr. Johnette McKown became the third president and first woman to lead this institution that is so vital to the growth and development of Central Texas.

She inherits a slew of new buildings and a student body in excess of 9,000, and she follows a charismatic president.

After serving as MCC executive vice president since 2002, McKown seems quite capable of taking the helm of this burgeoning institution. She has extensive business and management skills and is a decisive businesswoman. She prefers to be seen as a great leader who happens to be a woman.

Just days before her Sept. 22 inaugural ceremony, McKown sat down for an interview with the Trib and discussed the direction she wants to take the college. Here is some of what she said:

Q Are you excited to be the first woman president of MCC and to take on this new role?

A I am. It’s an exciting time for the college and lots of things are going on.

Q After working for so many years in the No. 2 slot, do you welcome the opportunity to spread your wings?

A It’s really nice to be the leader of a great team. I enjoyed working with Dr. Michaelis for many years but I’m enjoying being the leader.

Q Is it important for girls in Waco to see a woman as president of MCC?

A I’ve always just thought of myself as the leader who was a woman, not a woman who was the leader.

Q You came to MCC in January 1989 from Paris Junior College where you were director of business operations under Dr. Michaelis. Did he bring you to Waco? What expectations did you have of Waco?

A He encouraged me to apply. At the time, I didn’t really know much about Waco. I had driven down I-35 and had not seen the very beautiful and wonderful parts of Waco. So I didn’t know too much about it. But I really love Waco. It’s the best place I’ve ever lived.

Q What positions have you held at MCC?

A I was vice president of business services for 13 years and executive vice president for six years.

Q What primarily was your role as executive vice president?

A I continued to lead business services, but in addition I coordinated the organization for the vice presidents. Dr. Michaelis at that time began to take on a much more external role, so I began to take on the operations of the college.

Q You basically ran the nuts and bolts of the college?

A I did. That’s why this role isn’t so different for me.

Q Do you consider Dr. Michaelis a role model?

A He is definitely one of my mentors. I’ve had several. I learned from his interactions with the board and observing him.

Q How different are the two of you in your management styles?

A Very different. Different people do things differently. It doesn’t mean one is better. I am more of a team builder, you could say. He would give us things to do but he still was making many of the decisions at the top and we were implementing his ideas. My management style is more of a group effort.

Q You have a reputation as a workaholic and have been ordered home or told to stay home on weekends, is that true?

A That’s true. I learned hard work from my parents.

Q Tell readers about yourself.

A I’m originally from a small town in northern Louisiana called Farmerville. My mother was a school teacher. My daddy had a filling station and then he worked for the state weighing trucks on the highway. I graduated from Farmerville High School as the valedictorian and then I went to Louisiana College and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English. I was in the high school marching band and I was real active in Girl Scouts. I played the flute in high school and in college. I was in 4-H and active in my church. My husband, Stan McKown, is a retired minister.

Q So much has changed since you came in 1989. Then the campus was worth $41 million and was 200 acres with 5,000 students. What is the student population and campus size now?

A We have 9,150 students this fall. We also have 800 students attending the University Center. So it’s a pretty busy place. The campus is now worth $160 million and we have 460 acres. This is the largest student body ever. We have had a 16 percent growth — the largest growth we’ve had since 1975.

Q How are you going to accommodate all of those students? Are you going to increase online courses?

A We are continuing to offer more and more online courses. We had 388 course enrollments in fall 1998, and in fall 2009, there were 5,166 online course enrollments.

Also we are continuing to expand parking. We added an underground parking garage this fall with 405 spaces, and we’re looking at ways to add 300 spaces this spring.

Q You have had a building boom over there by adding three new buildings in the past year.

A We’ve added 40 percent more square footage and we knew that was going to bring extra students.

Q MCC has done a lot since you arrived: opened satellite centers in 1990, started a Retired Senior Volunteer Program, awarded the first scholarships through the MCC Foundation, opened the University Center in 2001 where students can take classes from other universities at MCC, bought a ranch and ran two successful bond elections. It seems MCC has collaborated well with the community?

A That’s right and it’s been a developing thing. We’ve worked well with the City of Waco and McLennan County for the new Emergency Services Education Center. We’ve worked with the school districts on duel enrollment. We worked with the Chamber of Commerce to support economic development in the city. Things just work better when we are all working together, particularly when you have taxing entities, you need to collaborate.

Q What do you think your tenure and legacy will be?

A I think it will be marked by even greater enrollment growth and greater community service and volunteer involvement in the community. And marked by ensuring financial stability in unsure times.

Q What type of community service?

A We want to make sure we have more people involved in volunteer ism in the community. We are going to continue to look for ways to give back to the community. That’s really important to our board and to me, personally.

Q What types of volunteer efforts are you involved with?

A I’m on the Waco Family Practice Foundation Board. I’ve been involved with Bible study fellowship. I volunteer through my Sunday School classes with the Christian Women’s Job Corps. I volunteer periodically at the Gospel Cafe, and I take food to Talitha Koum Institute. I also contribute through the MCC Foundation and (in 1990) I started an emergency fund for students — the Stephen and Stuart McKown Student Emergency Fund Scholarship fund — named after my nephews. This helps students who don’t have enough money for books or can’t afford a bus ticket to get to class. In one case, someone needed dancing shoes to take a dance class.

Q You have had three new buildings open within a year?

A The Emergency Services Education Center opened this fall near the airport. We also opened the Science Building and Michaelis Academic Center. It’s pretty amazing to get all those big projects completed. We got three big buildings opened all within the same year. The students love the buildings. The buildings have a lot of student learning spaces and wireless study rooms.

Q Do you have plans for more construction anytime soon?

A We will do renovations to existing buildings. and are evaluating whether to add another small building for health sciences ... which includes nursing, physical therapy, respiratory care programs, a medical lab technology program, and a surgical tech program.

Q Anything else planned for the future at MCC?

A We are going to continue doing the things we do well. We want to continue to have the highest level of instruction. We want to meet the needs of people the way they want it met. We want to continue to respond to the students and understand what makes this a great experience for them. We are going to be looking at being financially secure for a future that is unknown right now.