PANAMA CITY — The presidential search at Gulf Coast State College has been narrowed to six candidates.
In a 7-1 vote Thursday, the Board of Trustees at Gulf Coast State College approved the final six candidates to be interviewed in-person over a six-day period by May 6. Board member Don Crisp opposed the motion.
“Six people is a lot of people,” Crisp said. “The committee has done a fabulous job and the information they’ve given us; I think it would be very easy to reduce it down to four people instead of six.”
Better results would come with narrowing the list to four people, Crisp said, because more time would be available for the interview process. Board member Katie Patronis suggested Skype interviews could help narrow the list further.
However, the motion by board member Jim McKnight and approved by the board stated in-person interviews of all six candidates will take place.
Moreover, Crisp, as well as McKnight, said not everyone on the list appears to represent the caliber of what they had expected.
Most notably, McKnight mentioned, though the title of president is attached to some of the positions currently held by candidates, they’re not truly immediate college presidents or have college presidential experience — which wasn’t a qualifier in the selection process.
Candidate Allen Witt is the president of Central Florida’s South Shore campus of Hillsborough Community College, while the institution’s president is Kenneth Atwater. Anthony Kinkel is the president at a technical college, which offers mainly workforce-related certifications. And GCSC’s own George Bishop is the vice president of academic affairs and learning support.
The position pays between a minimum of $124,848 to $249,696, maximum.
“We’re a big school and a well-run operation, and I just want it to continue to be that way,” Crisp said. “Overall it was a great list of people … but they had 91 people to choose from.
“I thought in my mind,” he added, “there were a couple we could have eliminated that really wouldn’t be good. … I was trying to make it where we were using our time wisely.”
The presidential search committee was comprised of a diverse group including representation from the community, students, off-campus sites, faculty and the Board of Trustees.
“When you have so many different sectors of the college and the communities that we serve represented,” Patronis said, “you are going to get a little bit of diverse pool.”
Crisp “was right to ask the question about qualifications, but they’re all qualified — supremely qualified,” said board member David Warriner. “We just need to find the one that’s a fit for the community we have here at Gulf Coast.
“I’m looking forward to meeting them face-to-face,” he added.
A new president is scheduled to be selected at a special meeting following the May 8 Board of Trustees regular meeting. The meeting will be at 9 a.m. in the William C. Cramer Jr. Seminar Room (Room 306) in Student Union West at Gulf Coast State College, 5230 W. U.S. 98.
July 31 is current president Jim Kerley’s last day.
Also at the meeting Thursday, the board:
Approved a two-story schematic design of the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) building.
Approved writing off about $425,000 in delinquent accounts incurred by students who failed to pay off their student loan accounts.
6 FINALISTS
- George Bishop, Ph.D. – vice president of academic affairs and learning support, Gulf Coast State College
- John Holdnak, Ed.D. – executive vice chancellor, Department of Education/Division of Florida Colleges
- William Kibler, Ph.D. – vice president for student affairs, Mississippi State University
- Anthony Kinkel, Ed.D. – president, Wichita Area Technical College
- Joe Pickens, J.D. – president, St. Johns River State College
- Allen Witt, Ph.D. – president, South Shore Campus, Hillsborough Community College