2024 - From Student to Staff: Diane Kerruish

Our latest series, “From Student to Staff,” shares the lives of ECC faculty, staff, and administration members who attended ECC as students. In each story, learn why they chose to attend ECC, what their experience as students was, and how they came back to their roots in their new role as employees. 

Diane Kerruish, senior executive assistant to the president, has celebrated many milestones, both professional and personal, since enrolling at Elgin Community College in 1975. 

“I look back, and I cannot believe I’ve worked here for nearly 17 years because it’s blown by,” Kerruish said. “Then I think about when I first was here, which was 50 years ago. You don’t think about your time when you were young, but it changed me in more ways than one. Not just in my education, but in my life.”  

After graduating high school, college wasn’t something Kerruish considered right away, but she decided to enroll because she was determined to find a career path where she could work Monday through Friday, hoping to always keep her weekends free. While attending ECC, she began working in the Registrar's Office, catching the eye of another student. 

“I had the great fortune of meeting my husband here,” Kerruish said. “He would walk back and forth down the hallway where I worked, and the rest is history. It’s very cool for me to be able to sit in this office, look down out my window, and know that’s where it all started.” 

After earning her Associate in Arts degree in 1976, Kerruish reflected on the skills she had acquired through her studies and her experience working in the Registrar's Office. She returned to ECC's job fair to explore her options and find the perfect fit for her career. There, she locked in her first full-time job at an equitable life and insurance company.  

Over the years, Kerruish would move through other workplaces, and after the loss of her husband at 40 years old, she knew she had to make a big change to continue supporting herself and her family financially.  

When Kerruish came across the job posting for Executive Assistant to the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer in ECC’s Marketing & Communications Department, she felt like it was written especially for her.  

“I wanted this job so bad, and I’ve never prepared for a job interview as much as I did for that position,” Kerruish said. After landing the job as executive assistant to the chief marketing and communications officer, Kerruish was promoted to her current role as senior executive assistant to the president the following year. 

During her first year at ECC, Kerruish helped with the 2009 referendum of the college, the 60th anniversary celebration, and the branding of the college. “It was a whirlwind, and it was amazing and fun,” Kerruish said. “Never in a million years did I think this would all happen, and I feel so blessed.” 

Years later, Kerruish learned she had applied for the ECC position on the very last day it was posted. This led her to believe that everything truly happens for a reason.  

“I wish I could have told my younger self not to worry so much,” Kerruish said. “It all works out in the end. “You’ll take a step this way or that way, but you’ll be okay in the end. Don’t sweat the small stuff because it’s all small stuff in the grand scheme of things.”