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FLCC President Risser Announces Upcoming Retirement

Barbara Risser, who has led Finger Lakes Community College since 2007, has announced plans to retire at the end of the upcoming school year.

Risser is FLCC's 4th president, and presided over the largest expansion of college facilities since the main campus was built in the mid-1970s. Enrollment rose 27 percent between the fall of 2007 and last year.

Risser says when she came to the college in 2007, her plan was to stay seven to nine years, saying that is the right amount of time for a college president.

Since 2007, FLCC has expanded and modernized its main campus in Canandaigua; added a Victor Campus Center and is currently redeveloping its Geneva Campus Center. This year, FLCC opened a Viticulture and Wine Center in Geneva.

The college is in the process of hiring a consultant to pick Risser's successor. Chair of the FLCC Board of Trustees, Donna Mihalik, says the Risser was "the right leader at the right time" for the college.

Randy Gorbman is WXXI's director of news and public affairs. Randy manages the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.