Cat Ripley resigns from PCC Governing Board

Posted Nov 15, 2022, 12:24 pm

Dylan Smith
TucsonSentinel.com

PCCCatherine Ripley speaking at a PCC Veterans Day event last week.

Citing a need to care for her elderly mother, Catherine Ripley is resigning from her seat on the Pima Community College Governing Board.

"I have found it more and more difficult to spread my time and efforts between home and the college, and to give my mother the care and constant love she so deserves in this, her last stages of life," said Ripley, a former Democratic Party official and Navy veteran who was elected in November 2020 and has been serving as the chair of the board.

"The amazing staff, administration, and faculty I was privileged to meet and work with here will be missed terribly," she said at a board meeting Monday. "I am amazed and proud of your accomplishments, courage, and strength of character you have shown over the past two very difficult years of COVID recovery. Your resilience is remarkable, and you've managed to not only overcome enormous challenges, but rise to levels beyond ever before. You are true heroes to me and to this community."

Ripley's term in the District 1 seat would have run through 2026. An appointment for the remainder of her term will be made by Pima County School Superintendent Dustin Williams.

Calling Ripley a "dedicated public servant," PCC Chancellor Lee Lambert said "she managed the board through difficult times with courage and grace and always kept the interests of students and the needs of the community as her priority."

Ripley has been closely allied with Demion Clinco, a board member who was just trounced in a re-election bid, losing 61-39% to Theresa Riel, a former PCC administrator. Clinco had raised more than $160,000 for his campaign for the unpaid position. Riel raised just more than $23,000, with a $4,000 deficit in her most recent finance report.