In 2016, Ballinger became the first female president of an institution known as one of the best of its kind. In 2018, the American Association of Community Colleges rated LCCC first in the nation for excellence in student success. And at press time it is the only community college in Ohio to receive final approval from the state’s Higher Learning Commission to offer a bachelor’s degree of its very own — an applied bachelor’s degree in microelectronic manufacturing, an emerging field with 100 percent job placement.
A Force for Good: Ballinger uses her power to unite people in accomplishing a common goal: increasing educational attainment. “My personal philosophy is, People support what it is that they help to create,” she says.
Knowing What it Takes: Ballinger helped create the school’s University Partnership, which offers over 50 bachelor’s and master’s degrees through an association with 14 four-year colleges and universities — and subsequently earned an MBA from Kent State University through that program. “I understand and recognize what it is like to be an adult learner where you’re working 50, 60 hours a week, you’re going to school, and you’re juggling raising a family,” she says.
Changing Lives: Ballinger says research shows LCCC students who transfer to a four-year college or university generally outperform counterparts who started there. “When you come to Lorain County Community College, you are in small class sizes,” she points out. “You’re not in large lecture halls. You have faculty who choose to teach at a community college.”
Changing the Community: LCCC turns out tailor-made workers for business and industry. “Part of the power of the community college is uniting employers around common goals and trying to set our own direction so that we truly are creating the kind of workforce that takes us into the future,” Ballinger says.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Ballinger says she hasn’t
experienced a challenge to the power she wields as LCCC president just because she’s a woman. “I have proven myself and my abilities here, and expertise, for many years, having been part of Lorain County Community College,” she says.