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New CMC Rifle dean brings oil, gas experience to job

Alex Zorn
  

Carole Boughton has been named Colorado Mountain College vice president and Rifle campus dean.
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A decade ago, longtime educator Carole Boughton came to Colorado Mountain College’s Rifle campus for a project and left with one thought: One day she wanted to work here.

Now 10 years later, she returns for her dream job as last week CMC announced Boughton as the new campus dean and vice president of CMC Rifle.

While she won’t officially start until mid-June at the earliest, Boughton attended the campus’s graduation ceremony earlier this month and is eager to carry on the momentum of the college’s 50th anniversary celebration.



Boughton comes to CMC after years working at Wyoming community colleges. She served as the director of the Center for Workforce and Community Development for the Northern Wyoming Community College district in Gillette. Before that she worked at Western Wyoming Community College and over the years she continues to look for ways to improve community economic development and collaboration with the oil and gas industry.

“I enjoy learning in a small environment, with a small teacher-to-student ratio,” she said in an interview. “I like that community colleges give students the opportunity to meet needs whatever and wherever they are.”



Becoming the new dean of CMC Rifle gives Boughton the chance to move to the mountains and live closer to family in Grand Junction.

Boughton said that to hit the ground running she plans to come in and get to know the community right away. She hopes to reach out to stakeholders and start by building relationships with faculty and staff.

Boughton has years of experience working with oil and gas industry professionals, setting up programs and pathways that would springboard students to entry-level jobs, something she hopes to bring to CMC Rifle.

Her predecessor at the Rifle campus, Rachel Pokrandt, moved to Leadville last summer to take on the position of vice president and campus dean for CMC Leadville and Chaffee County, one of the college’s three residential campuses.

“Having such a talented and experienced campus leader join the CMC team as we start planning our college’s next 50 years will further enable us to better serve our students and communities,” Carrie Besnette Hauser, president and CEO of the college, said in a press release.


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