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Open forums at WSCC

3 finalists for president of WSCC meet the public

PEYTON NEELY The Marietta Times Kristin Mallory, one of the candidates for the Washington State Community College president position, speaks during the open forum at WSCC on Thursday afternoon.

As Washington State Community College nears the decision of who will serve as the next president, the college held open forums for all of the candidates this week.

Faculty, staff and members of the board of trustees filled the Community Room on campus on both Tuesday and Thursday to get to know the three candidates in line to replace retiring President Bradley Ebersole.

“Each of the sessions have gone better than we ever could have hoped,” said Trustee John Lehman. “We have an embarrassment of options because they’re all excellent for the college.”

On Tuesday, Vicky Wood, 52, of Marion, and Mike Sherman, 62, of Hilliard, visited the campus to answer any questions. On Thursday, Kristin Mallory, 53, of Charleston, W.Va., visited Marietta to do the same. After each of the public forums, the candidates met with the trustees to further their interview process.

During Thursday’s forum, around 30 people entered the Community Room eager to meet the last candidate. All of those attending were employees of the college anticipating the final decision for their new president.

“We kept all the questions similar,” said Trustee Randy Barengo. “We learned a lot about each candidate as well as about the concerns of Washington State. The board is really excited to keep this process rolling.”

Some of the questions asked were about the experience each candidate had with higher education and community colleges. More of the questions targeted areas of student success and the College Credit Plus program at Washington State.

Lehman asked Mallory if there were any programs she wished WSCC offered but does not.

“I feel like I would have to study the industry of the area more,” she said. “Washington State offers a lot of business courses, health care courses and engineer courses that are vital to the area. I can’t say what I would like to add but rather improve.”

Other questions about starting new certifications and associate’s degrees at Washington State were asked among some of the professors of the school.

“We are very fortunate to have three candidates with dynamic experience in community college or a university,” said Brenda Kornmiller, dean of Business, Engineering, Industrial Technologies and Workforce Development.

Kornmiller asked questions involving experience with the local business industry and involve them in higher education.

“It’s great to see the employees engaged and interested in who our next president will be,” she said. “It’s really important to us to learn who might be overseeing things done here.”

Other questions asked to all candidates focused on experience with budgeting, the tuition freeze in Ohio, Gov. John Kasich’s budget proposal about textbook cost and programming.

“We wanted to see what concerns the faculty, staff and administration had here,” said Barengo. “All the candidates are going to be college presidents somewhere, that’s how good they are.”

The next step is for the trustees to meet next week and discuss their thoughts about each of the candidates.

“The board will convene next week to deliberate,” said Lehman. “We hope to have had made a decision within the next couple of weeks.”

According to Barengo, the board set a goal of April 1 for a decision.

“We plan to meet that goal or be close to it,” he said.

At a glance

¯Each of the candidates for the presidential position at Washington State Community College visited the campus this week.

¯They participated in public forums answering any questions or concerns from staff, faculty, administration or members of the public.

¯The board of trustees plans to convene next week to consider a final decision.

Source: Board of Trustees member Randy Barengo.

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