Officially, Aug. 12, the day he talked with the Reporter, marked Redmond resident Eric Murray’s fourth day on the job as president of Cascadia Community College in Bothell.

Nevertheless, Murray was talkative and amiable, seemingly right at home in surroundings that presumably are still very new to him.

How exactly does one even go about starting a job as the head of an established, complicated organization like Cascadia? Murray said a reporter isn’t the first person to ask him that question.

“You get to know people and you listen,” he said.

Murray added he’s been reading lots of files, filling in any blanks in what he didn’t already know about the school and his staff, members of which he said he has been in daily contact with since being selected as Cascadia’s president in early June. And while Murray has some definite ideas on where he wants to lead Cascadia, he emphasized the college has run smoothly through its first decade, a milestone he’ll help the school formally celebrate with some October festivities.

Washington Monthly magazine ranked Cascadia second in its 2007 list of the top U.S. two-year colleges.

“The institution isn’t broken by any means … It needs someone who can make the next 10 years as successful as the last 10,” Murray said.

Coming to the Bothell school from North Idaho College in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, Murray replaces William Christopher, who retired this summer after five years at Cascadia. In terms of replacing Christopher, the school’s board of directors made the final choice based at least partly on recommendations from a presidential search committee and comments submitted following a public forum held with finalists.

“We are thrilled that Dr. Murray will be the next president of Cascadia,” college board chair Kirstin Haugen said at the time Murray’s selection was announced. “Eric is a dynamic leader who will continue to build on our strong ties to the community and our dedication to our students.”

At North Idaho, Murray was vice president for student services and, at age 41, he now might be among the youngest community college presidents in the country. Murray said he previously held administrative positions at colleges in Montana and California. He admitted there was a time he didn’t want to be president of any school, but added that he eventually came to realize that in order to fully implement his own vision, he had to be the person in charge.

So what does Murray’s vision mean for the future of Cascadia? “My first priority is to keep this location,” he said.

Earlier this year, outgoing State Rep. Mark Ericks, D-Bothell, asked for a formal study of the possibility of combining Cascadia and Lake Washington Technical College (LWTC) on the LWTC Kirkland campus. The proposal was dropped, but according to Murray, such a study was later authorized at the same time as an overall study of Washington’s community college system.

Again, according to Murray, the Cascadia study is to be completed by a committee that was to have been named over the summer. That apparently did not happen, but Murray said he still expects the work eventually to go forward. He added he will be meeting shortly with state education officials and hopes to get some clarification on the study process.

For his part, Murray believes there are several reasons to keep Cascadia right where it is, chief among them the school’s obvious proximity to the University of Washington, Bothell. In fact, rather than ripping the two schools apart from their shared campus, Murray hopes to see cooperation between the institutions grow in some specific ways.

On an educational level, he would love to see the faculty of the schools work together more, but Murray also believes the campuses can share some administrative and operating costs, such as for food service.

Murray hit on several ideas for Cascadia’s future, but particularly noted he hopes to further raise Cascadia’s visibility both inside and outside of Bothell. He said he was only half joking as he expressed a wish to be Bothell Mayor Mark Lamb’s best friend. Murray added he wants to reach out to leaders in surrounding cities such as Redmond and Kirkland, as well. Murray stated he purposefully found a home in Redmond, riding his bike to work every day.

Murray came here from Idaho with his partner, a graphic designer. He said the culture of this area, as well as its natural beauty, were among the reasons they were both willing to relocate. Murray said Coeur d’Alene is an attractive resort town, but lacks the urban amenities of greater Seattle.

“Everyone knows this campus is beautiful,” Murray said referring to Cascadia. “You’re in a suburb of a major metropolitan area, but you really don’t know it.”