Schenectady County Community College doesn’t need to begin the hunt for a new president, for now. President Quintin Bullock won’t be leaving the area to become president of Stark State College in Ohio, after being named as one of three finalists. SCCC Board of Trustees Chairwoman Denise Murphy McGraw said Bullock called her the evening of Tuesday, Dec. 22, to tell her that he pulled his name from the running. The following day Stark State announced the college selected Para Jones, current president of Spartanburg Community College in South Carolina. Irene Lewis-Motts, spokeswoman for Stark State, said she had “no knowledge” of Bullock withdrawing himself as a candidate, and first heard of the withdrawal through the media. SCCC spokeswoman Heather Meaney said Bullock is declining to comment on anything related to Stark State’s presidential search. Motts said Bullock’s withdrawal had “no bearing whatsoever” on the final selection outcome. “I was not told that by my Board of Trustees,” Motts said. “I don’t know for a fact if he did or didn’t (withdraw) … the board entered discussions with Dr. Jones prior to the formal announcement.” Jones previously spent 22 years working at Stark State and will take on her new role in February. The presidential search started with 36 potential candidates being selected, then it was lowered to eight candidates for the interview process and finally down to the remaining three. McGraw said SCCC is “on a real roll” and is glad Bullock will be remaining at the college to oversee and help lead future developments. “We have a number of other initiatives coming down the pipe,” McGraw said. “He has been somebody that has done everything … he has been a real leader, he has taken us to new heights.” College officials recently celebrated the groundbreaking of the new student housing facility, which across the street from the campus and his slated to be 112,000 square feet with 264 beds. United Group holds a 40-year lease on the property with an option to continue releasing it for another 40 years. Construction is planned to be completed by August 2012 and ready for fall semester students to move in. “The college has been talking about housing for probably a decade,” McGraw said. “I think it really took some changing leadership, dynamic leadership … both of us together said, lets do more than just talk about it.” Bullock is nearing the end of his three-year contract with the school, which concludes after the upcoming semester. He earns an annual salary of $155,000 to oversee the campus of over 6,000 students. The college’s previous president, Gabriel Basil, held the leadership role for 17 years, so McGraw said the college knew its strengths and weakness. Bullock’s previous experience with campus housing was an attractive feature, which helped him be selected. She admitted that she believes Bullock will not have such a lengthy tenure, but searching for a new president now would be difficult. “I knew when he came here that this might not be his last stop,” she said.
Also, McGraw said she didn’t believe the increase in salary, around $75,000, at Stark State was the primary draw for Bullock to seek the position. The larger size of the campus and enrollment, almost tripling SCCC at approximately 18,000 students, is what McGraw believes attracted Bullock. “I knew when he came here that this might not be his last stop,” McGraw said. “To keep him, I would do anything”