PITTSFIELD — Outgoing Berkshire Community College President Ellen Kennedy will be putting off retirement for one more year.

Kennedy, who is stepping down on June 30 after 14 years at the helm of BCC, has been appointed as interim president at Cape Cod Community College in Barnstable. She will serve for one year while the college, now weathering a scandal involving its former president, conducts a nationwide search for a new leader.

On Friday, Kennedy told The Eagle a representative reached out to her about the possibility of serving as Cape Cod's interim president. Its Board of Trustees appointed her on Wednesday, pending Board of Higher Education approval.

Of Kennedy, Tammy Glivinski-Saben, the chair of Cape Cod's Board of Trustees, said the board is “thankful to have a candidate with such tremendous credentials willing to help lead our institution,” according to The Boston Globe.

At Berkshire Community College, Kennedy has been working with incoming president, Hara Charlier, on the transition. But Kennedy has realized she can use much of the advice she’s given Charlier about meeting stakeholders and forming partnerships.

“I’m not walking in cold. I just spent the last month and a half talking about how do we do this,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy is taking the helm of a college with more than 4,000 students — about twice BCC’s enrollment — that is dealing with a sudden scandal.

The college's former president, John Cox, was placed on paid administrative leave last fall while an independent investigation looked into allegations of an improper non-romantic relationship with a student. Cox abruptly retired a month before the report was made public.

The investigation found that Cox, while not violating college policy, “did engage in inappropriate and unprofessional conduct toward the complainant that was inconsistent with his role as a college president,” the Board of Trustees said.

The Boston Globe, which first reported the investigation, obtained the report after the college attempted to charge the newspaper $9,525 to fulfill a public records request.

Kennedy’s appointment came despite concerns from faculty and employee unions that leadership had not engaged the campus community on the decision.

“Should you vote to recommend me, I want you to know that I am not here to paper over what happened or to move past it too quickly,” Kennedy told the Cape Cod Community College Board of Trustees, according to The Globe. “Institutions heal when people feel heard, when leadership is present and transparent, and when trust is rebuilt through actions, not words. That is the work I would be coming to do.”

Kennedy told The Eagle “there’s grief and trauma right now,” at Cape Cod, the state's second-oldest community college after Berkshire Community College. "It’s a process and it’s going to take some time. It requires active listening and understanding.”

Kennedy hopes to remind the college and the community "what makes it so good and wonderful — the aspects of student success that happen there and the opportunities it provides. There’s so much to celebrate.”