Wayne State College will be ending two and a half years of interim academic leadership on May 1, 2026, when Jason Pierce joins the college as the permanent Vice President of Academic Affairs.
Pierce will take the position of current interim VPAA John Miller, who spent five times the amount of time at WSC than he was first scheduled to be the interim. Miller came to WSC as part of a registry, which provides interims for colleges in the U.S.
“Originally, I came here for six months, and then the president and I both figured out that there was a lot more to do,” Miller said. “Secondly, I liked it, and still like it, so six months turned into two and a half years.”
As part of closing the interim role, Miller has been assisting in the onboarding process of Pierce.
“The president and I talked at length, and not just her, but her cabinet, about what we needed to do to set Dr. Pierce up for success,” Miller said. “We just decided that the job is too critical to have a learning curve… So, starting in February, we started an onboarding process. He and I talk every week.”
As part of the onboarding process, Pierce met with deans, President Rames and other faculty, and he said his experience has been wonderful.
“I mean, people joke about ‘Midwest nice,’ but it’s been real in my experience. I’ve felt very, very welcome,” Pierce said. “I have met a lot of people, and I won’t remember everyone’s name, unfortunately, to get started.”
Pierce will step into office in under two weeks with a list of goals, but the first things for him to learn is the community.
“First year’s learning the community, learning the faculty, and the students and the staff,” Pierce said. “There’s a lot of work you have to do. I have breadth of experience in lots of different areas. Some of it may be relevant and some of it may be irrelevant… there are a lot of things going on that I’m familiar with. Dual credit is something that I probably have more experience with that than many people.”
Along with dual credit, Pierce brought up other topics like new reduced credit baccalaureate programs and nontraditional adult learners as a way to help serve the region and students at Wayne State.
As Piece prepares to fill the permanent role of VPAA, he said he is looking forward to many things but the biggest are Runza and the community.
“I’m really looking forward to learning more about not just Wayne State College, but also the Wayne community. I’m looking forward to exploring Nebraska, getting out there. But I’m also looking forward to being part of the Wayne State College story.”
When Miller steps out of his interim role to hand over the office to Pierce, he said he will return to being retired and being with family, but won’t fully step away from potential temporary work elsewhere.
“In the time that I’ve been here, the really only bad thing about this is I’m away from my family, and that’s hard,” Miller said. “Being able to be with those folks again is going to be great… And I’m not closing the door to perhaps doing another interim assignment somewhere else for the registry… I’m looking forward to a little R and R.”
Miller will resume his retirement after over two years starting May 1 when Pierce will fill the long-term role as the permanent VPAA of WSC.
“Y’all are lucky to have him,” Miller said. “He’s sharp. He understands our business, and I think he’s going to be a great addition.”
