The search for LBCCs next president

With current LBCC President Rita Cavin officially retiring next December, the hunt for our next college president has begun.

To help with the search, the school has brought in Al Fernandez and Michael Viera, consultants from Community College Search Services. They were on campus last week holding focus group sessions to identify characteristics and skills the next president should have in order to address the college’s current challenges.

“We are not here to select [the next college president], but to facilitate,” Viera said. Different sessions were held for classified employees, faculty, staff, students, and the LBCC Board of Education.

According to a handout provided by Fernandez and Viera, they will help with brochure development, candidate recruitment, preliminary candidate evaluation and interviews, board interviews, comprehensive reference reports, a college forum for finalists, and the interview held with the board of education.

According to Jim Huckestein, vice president of finance and operations, the bill for the consultants is $26,000. During one of the meetings, an open session for all staff and students, the budget was the number one concern for those in attendance and, because there is not enough money coming from the state, one of the qualities of the new president should be the ability to “think outside of the box” in order to generate more funds for the school.

No students chose to attend the meeting.

So, the Commuter has been asking students around campus what qualities and skills they think our next president should have.

Jamie Corwin, an LBCC student in the medical @ flickr office specialist program, feels that our next president should have “a lot of people skills because this is a very diverse college.”

Michelle Evans, a graphic design major and barista at Hot Shots, would like our next president to be someone “who knows how to listen and is open to new ideas.”

Adam LaMascus, a history major, hopes the next president is “savvy with money, creative, sympathetic, and responsible.”

Ryan Henson

(Photo credit: Leo Reynolds @ flickr)