FSCJ selects Dr. John Avendano as school’s new president

Students and faculty at Florida State College at Jacksonville now know who the next president of the school will be after the former president retired last May.

The District Board of Trustees unanimously selected Dr. John Avendano today as the sixth president at FSCJ.

Avendano spent the last three days on campus for interviews and to meet students and faculty. He also participated in an open forum to give people with ties to the school a chance to learn more about him.

"What you see is what you get," he said during the forum. "I am a sincere person. I'm a person about building relationships with the people I come across."

Avendano is currently the president and CEO of Kankakee Community College in Illinois and has more than 30 years of experience in community colleges.

"We are our community's college," he said in the forum. "We are community colleges in many respects, so we need to be responsive to the needs of the community, that's how community colleges were first established."

Avendano previously served as the president of the Illinois Council of Public Community College Presidents.

He has a bachelor’s degree in exercise physiology and a master’s degree in adult continuing education, both from Northern Illinois University. Avendano also has a doctorate in educational administration and foundations from Illinois State University.

Avendano will replace Interim President Kevin Hyde, who was filling the position after the retirent Dr. Cynthia Bioteau.