Search committee trims CCSN list

Jeffrey Libby

Monday, July 17, 2000 | 10:40 a.m.

An ad hoc search committee has moved one step closer to nominating a new president for the rapidly expanding Community College of Southern Nevada, narrowing the field to 13 candidates despite complaints from committee members that the applicant pool was too "thin" and that it should be tossed.

"I don't know how much having a candidate who is also the interim president had to do with cutting down the pool," Regent Howard Rosenberg said. "Some may have thought it was a done deal. But this is a plum job. We should have had two applicants from every state."

Instead, the search committee had 61 applicants to choose from, compared with 140 applicants drawn by a recent presidential search at Western Nevada Community College in Carson City. The majority of the applicants in the current search hail from Texas and California.

But Regent Steve Sisolak called the comparison between two schools one of "apples to oranges." He blamed the small applicant pool on the difficulty of the job at CCSN and the inability of the committee to guarantee applicants' confidentiality during the search process because of state open meeting requirements.

Sisolak and Doug Seastrand, chairman of the search committee, spoke positively of the applicant pool.

Of the 13 semifinalists, nine are current or acting presidents at schools of higher learning.

But Regent Mark Alden, who was visibily upset by the direction of the search, said, "We're talking about the largest institution in the state. This search is quintessential, it's important. Sometimes it's best to step back, breathe a little air."

Like Rosenberg, Alden questioned the wisdom of allowing an interim president to run as a candidate for the position. Alden cited an Oregon law that prohibits what he said could be seen as a conflict of interest and suggested revisiting the issue for future searches.

As expected, Robert Silverman, interim president of the community college since Jan. 14, was among the 13 semifinalists and the lone Nevadan.

Silverman, who served five years as vice president of academic affairs at CCSN, took over as interim president when former President Richard Moore accepted a new appointment as head of the proposed state college at Henderson.

California candidates making the cut were Joseph Olander, former vice president of the Golden Gate University system and now senior fellow at the American Association of State Colleges; Diana Sloane, vice chancellor of education and technology at Los Rios Community College in Sacramento; and Linda Spink, superintendent and president of Antelope Valley College in Lancaster.

Candidates from Texas were William Campion, president and chief executive officer of El Paso Community College; Stephen Head, executive vice chancellor for education, student and community development at North Harris Montgomery Community College; Carlisle Rathburn III, president of Galveston College; Shirley Reed, president of South Texas Community College; and Frank Vivelo, president of Wharton County Junior College.

Also making the cut were Robert Anderson Jr., president of Colorado Northwestern Community College; Deborah Floyd, executive assistant to the chancellor at the University of Kentucky, Lexington; Ronald LaFayette, interim president of Spokane Community College in Washington; and Ronald Smith, acting president and executive dean of St. Louis Community College in Missouri.

According to Seastrand, the search committee will further research the backgrounds of the semifinalists and has plans to develop interviewing strategies for four to six candidates at its August meeting.

The committee hopes to present a nominee to the full Board of Regents of the University and Community College System of Nevada in October.

At stake is responsibility for campuses in Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson. The three campuses offer 70 career and 30 health programs and have an annual operating budget of $62 million.

Since October 1995, when Moore took the post, the student population has doubled to 35,400, more than keeping pace with the exploding Clark County population, which grew by 64 percent through the 1990s to 1.2 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Moore had a base salary of $145,000 when he stepped down in January. The new president can expect a salary of between $117,000 and $200,000.