SCC Board of Trustees Announces Six Finalists in Presidential Search

Published: 08/20/2011

Six candidates will visit the campus between Aug. 22-26.  Groups interviewing the candidates include students, faculty, staff, administrative officers, the Board of Trustees and local community and business leaders.

“At a special Closed Session meeting of the Board of Trustees on Aug. 15, the Board narrowed the list of candidates to six,” said William R. Pundmann, chair of the Presidential Search Committee and president of the SCC Board of Trustees.  “We are excited to learn more about the finalists and host them on the beautiful college campus.”

The candidates are: Drew A. Bennett, Ph.D., chancellor of Missouri State University at West Plains; Ronald Chesbrough, Ph.D., vice president for student affairs at Hastings College (Neb.); Michael L. Dreith, Ed.D., president of Western Texas College; Dorothy J. Duran, Ph.D., vice president of academic affairs at Iowa Western Community College; Steven M. Gates, Ph.D., senior vice president for learning and provost at Northwest Arkansas Community College; and Joseph Hartnett, MBA, department chair of business and computer science and professor of business administration at St. Charles Community College (Mo.).

The college began a presidential search when current president, John M. McGuire, Ph.D., announced in fall 2010 his intentions to retire in September 2011. In March, the Presidential Search Committee reviewed applications and made recommendations to the Board of Trustees. Following two rounds of interviews in May and June, the Board chose to restart the search, Pundmann said.  In June, the Board received a commitment from McGuire to postpone his retirement into the fall to allow for a smooth transition.

Information regarding the college’s presidential search can be found on the SCC website, www.stchas.edu/presidentialsearch.  “I look forward to a successful conclusion to the search and to naming the next SCC president,” Pundmann said.