The Board of Trustees for Schenectady County Community College and the Presidential Search Committee has narrowed down their search for a new college president to three candidates. After receiving applications from all over the country, the candidates were scheduled to visit the college from Nov.17 to 19.
There was a lot of interest in terms of the size of the school and what it’s achieved its short and long term vision. It really did elicit a lot of interest on behalf of many, many candidates, said Sharon Daley, an SCCC trustee.
`It was really satisfying to see the initial interest and the responses from people who are interested in the position.`
Candidates and their spouses were invited to spend a day on campus and around the community taking tours and getting to know the area. There were also public forums where participants met the community, students and professors.
During the forums, each candidate was invited to make opening remarks and answer questions from the audience.
Those who attended were provided with feedback forms at the end, which were submitted directly to the Board of Trustees for review.
`The response from the students, the faculty and the committee has been great. It’s more than just a job ` it’s about understanding the community you’ll be working in and living in,` said Daley.
The three candidates are Quintin B. Bullock, Patricia K. Atkins, and Gary F. Porter. Adkins is currently provost of Columbus State Community College in Ohio; Bullock is provost of Virginia Beach Campus of Tidewater Community College; and Porter is academic vice president of Bergen Community College in Paramus, N.J.
Daley said that candidates are drawn to the campus because of its smaller size, enabling them to have more of a direct impact on the campus and community, its vision, some of the initiatives it has taken on, as well as some of the programs it currently offers.
A new president would be joining SCCC at a time of looming state education cuts.
`This is a trying time, and finding someone who isn’t afraid of what’s happening on the state level, somebody who isn’t going to be scared off by the fact that we’re not going to see as many state dollars flowing into any SUNY institutions, including community colleges,` said Denise Murphy McGraw, vice president of the board of trustees.
`I think that the people we’ve talked to, they see it as an opportunity, and they’re not scared off by it,` said McGraw.
The college is looking for someone who will be able to serve in the long run. While officials consider who will be the best candidate for the position, they have appointed Dean Edward Baker as the acting president of the college starting Monday, Dec. 1.
`Given, if you will, almost the luxury we have of Dean Baker stepping in here, I think we want to make sure we chose the right individual for the job, and we would like to think that hopefully we get a fairly long run out of the next president,` said Daley.
The college hopes to make its decision in the coming weeks. To learn more about the candidates, visit http://www.sunysccc.edu/presidential/presidentialsearch.htm.“