Regents cut CCSN president list to three

Tuesday, May 11, 2004 | 10:10 a.m.

Having passed their initial interviews, three finalists vying to become president of the Community College of Southern Nevada were to face open forums today at each of the college's three campuses.

The search committee invited Richard Carpenter, president of the Wisconsin Technical College System; Peter Spina, interim president of the Thomas Nelson Community College in Virginia; and Kamiran "Kim" Badrkhan, president of the College of the Sequoias in California, back for campus tours after public interviews on Monday.

The search committee nixed candidate Holly Moore, president of the Shoreline Community College in Washington, after only half of the 14 CCSN representatives on a search committee voted to invite her back.

Carpenter and Spina won the confidence of almost every committee member after their interviews, with 13 voting to retain Carpenter and 12 voting for Spina. Badrkhan received 10 votes.

The 14 community college representatives advise five regents on the ad-hoc search committee.

All of the finalists have extensive experience in shared-governance models, managing colleges with several campuses, raising private and public funding, promoting diversity and encouraging workforce development -- key areas of concern raised by committee members during Monday's interviews.

Committee members did not ask how candidates would handle Nevada's current political climate, the Board of Regents or how they felt about the November removal of CCSN president Ron Remington.

Remington, along with removed lobbyist John Cummings and the attorney general's office, have asked the courts to void the removals on the basis that regents violated the state's open-meeting law during the Nov. 17 and 20 closed sessions.

The finalists, however, said they are no strangers to dealing with legislators, regents or budget cuts, or to making tough decisions.

Carpenter, a finalist from CCSN's last presidential search, told the committee during his interview that he was not looking for a new job, but that he was attracted to the "rich" opportunities at CCSN.

"When I look at CCSN, I see an institution that is rich in history with a bright future," Carpenter said. "And that's exciting for me."

In addition to his experience overseeing 16 colleges in the Wisconsin Community and Technical College System, Carpenter said his greatest strength was working with local businesses to create new revenue streams and teaching opportunities.

In his three years in Wisconsin, Carpenter raised $25 million through 4,600 business contracts, helped start a statewide "e-College"in 2001 that now offers 600 classes and helped pass a new credit transfer service with the universities.

At Calhoun Community College in northern Alabama, where Carpenter was president for 10 years, he helped raised $41 million to build its Aerospace and Advanced Technology Park, a comprehensive research park campus. The campus also received a commendation from a federal judge as being a model for diversity.

Spina, who was interviewed over speaker phone because a family emergency kept him in Virginia, told committee members he was applying for the position in order to get back into the "operational milieu" full time.

Spina retired from Monroe Community College in Rochester, N.Y., in 1999 after 18 years and spent the next four years at a community college think tank at Cornell University. He then postponed his Florida retirement plans to serve as interim president at a community college in Virginia.

It was there that Spina said he realized he had retired too soon.

"I have a lot of energy, a lot of physical dynamism, and a total commitment to community colleges and what they do," Spina said.

Spina has more than 40 years of experience working with a large, complex multi-campus college, and he said he spent much of his time focusing on workforce development.

"I spent a lot of time convincing businesses to rely on community colleges" for their training, said Spina, who is scheduled to be in Las Vegas today for the open forums.

The foundation Spina started as president of Monroe in 1984 received the first seven-figure donation from Xerox Corp. ever made to a community college, Spina said. The foundation continues to draw in millions of dollars each year.

The 32,000-student plus Monroe Community College was also rated as fourth in the country in degree productivity.

Badrkhan told committee members he would bring stability to the community college, having served for eight years as president of the College of the Sequoias and 10 years as an administrator at Long Beach City College.

"What I bring to the table is 30 years of experience, 30 years of know-how and a track record of successes," Badrkhan said.

The College of the Sequoias is a multi-campus institution that serves about 11,000 students, a majority of them Hispanic, in Tulare County, Calif.

Like Carpenter, Badrkhan began his career with a community college associate's degree.

Badrkhan also has extensive experience in raising private and public money, having served on the board of two foundations, he said. He cited the construction of a $3 million parking lot as one of his major accomplishments.

Faculty, staff, students or other members of the public will be allowed to pose questions to the finalists at any of the nine scheduled forums today. How candidates fare in the open forums will factor into the search committee's final selection Wednesday afternoon, committee members said.