JJC President

Dr. Clyne Namuo with his son Kainoa exiting his Presidential Investiture ceremony.

Dr. Clyne G. H. Namuo

Dr. Clyne G. H. Namuo is the 10th president of Joliet Junior College. He was appointed by the Board of Trustees after a national search and assumed the position in July 2022. 

Previously, he was the interim president of Phoenix College, the flagship college of the Maricopa system in Phoenix, Arizona. In his time at PC, he led the development of a formal shared governance structure, created the Phoenix College people's project and initiated an ambitious equity agenda. 

Dr. Namuo also served as vice president of learning and chief academic officer at South Mountain Community College in south Phoenix. At SMCC, he worked collaboratively with internal and external stakeholders to develop a comprehensive academic plan that spawned a number of initiatives, including the creation of the construction trades institute (the system’s premier trades program), the construction of immersive, interactive, mediated classrooms and expanded the adoption and implementation of mobile technology across all areas of the college and led all SMCC academic units through the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Before joining Maricopa Community Colleges, Dr. Namuo served in progressively responsible roles at Cochise College, a comprehensive community college in southeastern Arizona. These roles included cybersecurity faculty, department chair and the dean of business and technology. At Cochise, he worked with industry partners and the college foundation to revamp the residential construction program where students built homes from the ground up on vacant land as part of a city revitalization effort. Dr. Namuo is also an active peer reviewer for the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) and currently serves as a member of the Institutional Actions Council (IAC) and as the chair of HLC’s diversity committee, where he is working to implement an ambitious agenda whereby all peer reviewers will be able to apply an equity lens to their accreditation activities. He also serves as one of only 20 CEOs in the country on the Advisory Committee of Presidents for the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT).  

Dr. Namuo holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in higher education strategy from the University of Arizona’s Center for the Study of Higher Education, a master’s degree in information systems from San Diego State University and a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of Hawaii. Go Wildcats! Go Aztecs! Go Warriors! 

Dr. Namuo’s commitment to student success — particularly first-generation students — continues at JJC, where he announced the creation of the Namuo Family Endowed Scholarship for First Generation Students in September 2022. The Namuo family will contribute $50,000 over the next three years, and the JJC community has joined the Namuo family through various efforts. Way ahead of schedule, the scholarship is now fully endowed and the first Namuo scholar(s) will be awarded for the Fall 2024 semester. Dr. Namuo started the scholarship to honor the struggles and sacrifices his parents made to give him and his brother a better life. 

He is active in the JJC district as a member of Joliet Rotary, a board member of Will County Center for Economic Development, a board member of Grundy Economic Development Council and a board member of the Greater Joliet Area YMCA. His former community engagement experience includes serving as board president of Habitat for Humanity Sierra Vista, a commissioner for the Industrial Development Authority, a former member of the Sierra Vista City Council’s Citizen Advisory Commission and as the former president of the Asian Pacific Islander Association constituency group within the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD). 

Dr. Namuo is a published author who has written about the strategic direction of community colleges, fiscal constraint and the strategic strengths of deeply embedded community colleges (Community College Strategy - NorLights Press, 2014). He remains an active scholar through conference presentations (ACCT, AACC, HLC) and has coauthored chapters in peer-reviewed publications, most recently writing about interim college presidents and the impact of design thinking on the strategic positioning of community colleges (IGI Global). He lives in Frankfort with his wife Tiana and their family of five children (Amel, Charlotte, Kekoa, Maika, Kainoa), each of whom is extraordinary in their own way. He is an avid basketball player and is always looking for a great game.

Institutional Events and Presentations

Each year, Dr. Namuo delivers addresses and presentations to internal and external audiences. Recurring addresses, such as convocation and State of the College, share JJC’s recent achievements, future plans and ongoing College updates. The president may also do additional presentations and addresses for special events, like the presidential investiture, and for special initiatives, like 12x12x12.