Judy Mitchell Retiring As JJC President Later This Year

JOLIET, IL —Joliet Junior College President Judy Mitchell is leaving her position at the end of this year, school officials announced Thursday morning. Mitchell has been employed for 25 years with JJC and nearly five years as campus president.

The Joliet Junior College Board of Trustees approved her retirement at Wednesday night's meeting. A new president will be in place by next January.

“When I think about 2020 and my nearly five years as president, I am so proud of the work we have accomplished together,” Mitchell said in Thursday's news release. “The clarity that 2020 brought to me personally is that I have accomplished what I set out to do when I accepted this role, plus so much more. That is why I am announcing my retirement from the college, effective December 31, 2021. It is time for me to explore the next chapter of my life, and that includes spending more time with my family.”

In 1996, Mitchell became an administrative assistant in the Computer Information Office Systems Department. After serving as a program management specialist in Adult and Family Services, and then assistant to the director of administrative services, she became director of business and auxiliary services in 2005, JJC officials said.

In 2012, Mitchell was appointed vice president of administrative services, and in September 2016 was unanimously approved as the college’s president by the JJC Board of Trustees.

Under her tenure JJC said:

• The junior college's financial team has earned the Government Finance Officers Association’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Award
• Mitchell championed JJC’s Core Values, principals by which the college has strengthened collaboration among students and employees and community outreach. These include her launch of the President’s Diversity and Inclusion Council and the President’s Ambassador Group.

In 2019, Joliet Patch reported that the JJC board of trustees approved a new three-year contract for Mitchell giving her 3 percent pay increases in JJC's fiscal year 2020, 2021 and 2022, which was a significant amount of money for someone already making a base salary of $231,176.

For fiscal year 2021: Mitchell's pay increases would climb $7,143 to about $245,253 and her $8,400 annual vehicle allowance brings her total pay to about $252,610.

For fiscal year 2022 her 3 percent pay hike would boost her salary by another $7,358, to about $252,611 and her $8,400 vehicle allowance brings her total pay to $261,012, Patch previously reported.