Community College’s ‘North Star’

Mark MitsuiMark Mitsui remembers the shock he felt the first time he heard about it. His mother and father and their families were forced from their homes in Washington into World War II Japanese “internment camps.” His mother, Tami, was sent to Wyoming -- his father, Sam, to California.

While enroute, Tami’s family of nine were clustered into a horse stall at a livestock expo in Portland, Ore. They were kept there for three months before moving on to Heart Mountain. She says the overwhelming smell of manure still lingers in her memory.

Eventually freed, Tami and Sam would go on to attend the University of Washington, where they met and eventually passed along to their children a passion for education and justice.

Tami was able to see her son become president of Portland Community College (PCC) some 60 years later — from concentration camp to college president in one generation.

“For me, really, it underscored the importance of higher education,” says Mitsui.

Mitsui is now retiring, ending a 40-year career in higher education with a legacy of service. He was deputy assistant secretary for community colleges under President Barack Obama, worked as faculty and administration, serving as president of two West Coast community colleges. Mitsui’s life mission has been laser-focused on helping minoritized, first-generation, and low-income students improve their lives through education. Colleagues called him a “north star,” a leader whose aim was so true he will guide them long after he leaves in June.

Mitsui says he always knew he wanted to work in education. After earning his bachelor’s degree in physical education from Western Washington University, he took a teaching job at Renton Technical College. He worked eight years there.