Kansas City Kansas Community College

The first provost at Kansas City Kansas Community College, Dr. Morteza Ardebili wore many hats and made many significant changes in a 25-year career that ended with his retirement August 1, 2009.

Joining the KCKCC faculty as Sociology and Political Science instructor in 1984, he became the College’s first Director of International and Multicultural Education in 1991. During the five years of his leadership of the program, he encouraged and assisted the faculty to infuse the college curriculum with the various theories and perspectives regarding diversity and multicultural education. “The fact that our College is located within a diverse community gives the College a comparative advantage, regarding diversity education, over other institutions of higher education in Kansas,” he said.

In 1999, Dr. Ardebili assumed the position of the first executive Director of the newly created Center for Research and Community Development, and in 2000, he became the Vice-President for Executive Services, a position that he held until he was elevated to Provost in 2005.

During those years as the chief academic and operating officer, Dr. Ardebili made many significant changes and introduced many new initiatives at the College – spearheading the integration of the technology infra-structure of the College; leading the implementation of the College’s comprehensive strategic plan; creating and supervising the implementation of the ATS-KCKCC integration planning; and leading the conceptualization of the Board-approved Workforce Development Institute.

His most time-consuming undertaking was that of working out the merger agreement with the Area Technical School (ATS), which also required getting approval from the U.S. Department of Education, Kansas Board of Regents and the Higher Learning Commission. “It was incredible how much work and planning was needed,” said Dr. Ardebili.

With the merger, the total number of career and technical programs at KCKCC reached nearly 50. “The number of career programs and the significance of diverse employment opportunity for our community members prompted the Board of Trustees to approve the creation of the Workforce Development Institute,” Dr. Ardebili said. The Institute, according to Dr. Ardebili, “will be a venue where the workforce development officers of the College and the community stakeholders join forces and collaborate to advance the 50 career and technical programs so that the education and training needs of our community members are effectively addressed.”

Dr. Ardebili’s first priorities in retirement are getting some rest and spending some quality time with his family, traveling to visit his mother. He intends to spend his retirement reading and writing in his areas of interest and possibly teaching a course or two in the future.

A graduate of the National University of Iran where he earned a B.A. in Psychology in 1971, Dr. Ardebili also holds a Masters in Political Science from San Francisco State University in 1975. He received a Masters of Philosophy in Sociology and a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas in 1986.

He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award at KCKCC in 1987, a certificate of recognition for Teaching Excellence and Mentorship of Graduates from UMKC, a Trailblazer Award for pioneering International and Multicultural Education at KCKCC and an Excellence Award from the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development.

A member of several professional organizations and more than 20 College committees during his tenure, Dr. Ardebili has written working papers and has made numerous presentations at the professional meetings.

His wife of 37 years, Jaleh, also retired as a Humanities instructor at KCKCC in May 2009. The couple has two sons, Hajir, a practicing attorney in Los Angeles, and Amir, who just recently earned his law degree from UMKC and has passed the bar exam.

“Leaving KCKCC was very hard,” he said. “I had very cooperative and friendly relations with everyone at the College. I really enjoyed working at the College, and I always appreciated my colleagues’ commitment to the College and their dedication to students’ success. I am going to miss them a lot. It is very difficult to just disappear after spending a lifetime. But I always tell myself I live within 10 minutes of the College and when I miss them I will stop by and say hi.”