Right place at the right time for former IVCC president

Jerome “Jerry” Corcoran will tell you himself that he’s been blessed.

He’s had a full and interesting life, including spending his childhood on the family farm, earning college degrees, working in the school textbook industry, a career at Illinois Valley Community College for 33 years, and being part of the operation on the family farm he calls home. Corcoran is enjoying retirement, but his days are still full of activity.

“I stay busy. I have a loving wife named Katherine, but she also goes by St. Katherine because you have to be a saint to bother putting up with me,” Corcoran said.

Once he retired, Corcoran had extra time to focus on his physical fitness.

“I’ve been able to drop close to 15 pounds since I retired. I feel like I’m in good shape physically and spiritually. I go to the YMCA every morning. My wife and I have been incredibly lucky to have the new YMCA open in Ottawa. We use the heck out of it. I love to swim, and I’ve been able to focus on improving my technique. I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in,” he said. “It came along at the perfect time for me. At the time I’m walking out of the college retired, the YMCA opened up with beautiful facilities. I was in the right place at the right time. We can leave our house, and I can be in the pool at the Ottawa YMCA in 15 minutes. That’s not too bad.”

Corcoran lives on his family farm located just north of Ottawa, and there is nowhere he would rather be than with his wife and his family on the farm that formed a base for his entire life.

“I always like to thank family and faith, which kind of go together. It’s been fulfilling to live where we live and do what we do, to have the strength and support of so many people,” Corcoran said. “We also have access to just about every amenity a person could want.”

Although he has retired, Corcoran is preparing for a long life and mapping out his next act – he’s not one to sit idle for long.

“My mom lived to be 97. That’s a good indicator of what could happen to me. At the age of 72, I’m prepared to work another 20 years and hopefully contribute the same way I have for the first 72.”

Corcoran has been focused on family, faith, and not being afraid to dive in, whether physically on the farm or mentally in academia, since his days at St. Columbia Grade School and Marquette Academy. He then obtained a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois.

After finishing his studies, he was hired by Holden-Day Inc. (a college textbook publishing company from 1959 to 1996), where he sold books in San Francisco for three years before transferring to Philadelphia and back to California at Mountain View. After traveling the world and experiencing life outside of the Illinois Valley, Corcoran decided to return and found a job posting at IVCC.

“One of the things I learned a long time ago was if you want to move up the ladder, you have to be open to change, and you always have to be near the front of the line when they’re asking if someone is willing to accept a responsibility. Whenever there were opportunities at IVCC, I was always interested. I think I did a pretty decent job, so they wanted to keep me on board, and I was moved to a lot of different areas,” Corcoran said.

“I had never stepped foot on the campus of Illinois Valley Community College until I was hired in 1990. They had a part-time position open in agriculture. I had something to do with agriculture because I grew up on a farm, so I applied. I interviewed, was hired, and I ended up spending 33 years, the last 15 as president, at IVCC when I retired on July 1, 2023,” he said.

The listing he applied for was at the Dislocated Worker’s Center. The grant-paid position was part-time but led to a part-time administrator role at the center.

Throughout his IVCC tenure, he had ten positions, some of which included human resources, director of purchasing, director of human resources, vice president of business services and finance, and president.

“If I wanted to move up the ladder in the public education sector, I knew I was going to need an advanced degree. I got my master’s and, ultimately, my doctorate from Northern Illinois University in 2005. I thought I was in a good position and felt good about my academic credentials. I had the backing of a lot of good people. I applied for president of IVCC in 2005. I was one of the ten finalists. I ultimately didn’t get the job,” he said.

“A lot of times, when people apply for something and they don’t get the job, people will leave and go somewhere else to do whatever it is they could have done there. In my situation, I chose to stay. I worked closely with the new president and others. There was a change again at the top and I applied a second time. I got the job,” he said. “Ultimately, when the presidency opened up the second time, I happened to be in the right place at the right time.”

Corcoran views his farming upbringing as the anchor in his life. Without his background, he doesn’t know if everything would have turned out the way it did and for him to have the enjoyable retirement he is currently loving.

“When I got to IVCC, I was surprised our agriculture program course offerings were pretty light. I think we had two courses on the books when I was appointed president. I felt it was a huge void in our district, which is eight counties, all of which primarily are in farmland. A big chunk of the IVCC district is made up of agriculture. Only having a limited program of course offerings available to students, I thought it was something right away we could improve upon,” he said.

“We took a deep breath to make sure we had good data to back up our decisions, did our surveys, and ultimately pursued relaunching our agriculture program. When I left in 2023, we had grown from two Ag classes to 22 classes. Before, students interested in an Ag program left the area for other big-name schools,” he said.

“We were able to turn the ship around. Our agriculture program had 70 students and two full-time faculty members when I left. It’s been satisfying for a guy with an agricultural background to watch, when you finally get the chance to be the president, to see the program turn out okay,” he said.

Corcoran gives current IVCC President Tracy Morris and her staff kudos and appreciation for continuing to advance the agriculture program. He applauds many people at IVCC, both past and present, for their dedication, including Judy Day, Jeanne Hayden, and Fran Brolley.

Thinking about his work and their work, as well as their accomplishments, gives another layer to his amazing, blessed retirement.