MONROE - Chris Wellington, the woman who has overseen more than three decades of growth and change at Blackhawk Technical College in Monroe, is nearing the end of her tenure at the school. Wellington, dean of BTC's Monroe Campus, will retire June 30.

During her 32-year career at BTC, she has seen, and has been instrumental in, numerous changes at the technical college.

She started in 1979 as an instructor for Blackhawk Technical Institute, as it was known then. Classes were held at Monroe High School.

"We started offering credit classes when I started," Wellington said. "Prior to that, there were only non-credit classes."

Wellington taught English as a Second Language, Spanish and career-building classes, which empowered women to get into the workforce.

"Thirty years ago, women were still trying to get into the workforce," Wellington said.

When she started, there was no offices for Blackhawk Technical Institute until an office opened up on the Square. Five years later, the offices were moved to the Monroe Arts Center. Classes were offered at MHS, as well as MAC.

In 1987, Blackhawk Technical Institute became Blackhawk Technical College. The school found its own home two years later, when the college moved to its present location on 4th Avenue.

"We bought the original building from Crandata in 1989, did some remodeling that fall and opened for classes in January 1990," she said.

It didn't take long before the number of people interested in taking classes and programs outpaced the available space.

In 1995, an addition was constructed. But a library was needed in order to be considered an official campus of BTC; by 2000, a new wing and library were added.

The transformation at the Monroe campus was a slow process, Wellington said.

"We grew little by little," Wellington said. "Every year, we grew a little bit."

Wellington became dean in the mid-1990s. She said she's most proud of the recent additions of clinical lab and agribusiness programs at the Monroe campus.

"They serve a specific community need," Wellington said. "We have a very strong partnership with Monroe Clinic. I'm proud that there is a partnership between Monroe Clinic and BTC."

This type of partnership, Wellington said, allows students to learn what businesses want.

"Partnerships with businesses are our meat and potatoes, so to speak," Wellington said. "We try to listen to the community, to see what they need."

With her retirement approaching, Wellington plans to spend more time with her family. Her daughter and family, including Wellington's 3-year-old and 5-year-old grandchildren, moved back to Monroe recently after living in British Columbia for 10 years.

Wellington also plans to spend time visiting her sisters, and her mother in Florida.

Staying active in the community is also on Wellington's to-do list. Wellington serves on various boards, including the Monroe Clinic Board and the Monroe Arts Center, and plans to stay active with these organizations.

Community is important to Wellington.

"We have loved this community since the moment we moved here," Wellington said. She and her husband Charles moved to Monroe in 1979 after returning to the United States from Frankfurt, Germany where Charles was stationed in the military. Chris Wellington is originally from Rochester, N.Y., and Charles Wellington is a native of Chicago.

Monroe is a community that offers excellent business and community services, Wellington said. She believes that Monroe is an area filled people who care, and is rich in volunteering.

"Monroe is not a bedroom community," Wellington said. "People live here, work here, and commit here."

She hopes that students, as well as everyone else in the community, continues to learn throughout their lives. She encourages them to "be a life-long learner.

"It's more than taking a class or program and being done," she said.

And what will Wellington miss the most about BTC?

Everyone she has met and worked with.

"The team I work with cares about students deeply," Wellington said. "I'm going to miss the students; I'm going to miss watching them grow and change."