Owens Community College thins presidential candidates to eight

3/17/2001

Two community college presidents and the head of a community college system are among eight people named yesterday as semifinalists for the presidency of Owens Community College.

No candidates with ties to the college itself were selected.

A pool of 39 applicants was narrowed down to eight by the college's presidential search committee during a 61/2 -hour meeting at the Courtyard by Marriott on East Mall Drive in Springfield Township.

The semifinalists will be interviewed by the 16-member committee April 26-27. They are:

  • Dr. Christa Adams, president of St. Clair County Community College in Port Huron, Mich.

  • Dr. Jack Becherer, vice president of student development and external relations and executive assistant to the president at Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills, Ill.

  • Dr. Glenn DuBois, commissioner and chief executive officer of the New Hampshire Community Technical College System in Concord.

  • Dr. Gregory W. Gray, campus executive officer at Pennsylvania State University-Fayette in Uniontown.

  • Dr. Lawrence E. Grulick, vice president of instruction and education services at Harrisburg Area Community College in Pennsylvania.

  • Dr. William J. Hierstein, consultant for community college affairs at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls.

  • Dr. Karin Pettit, president of Lenoir Community College in Kinston, N.C.

  • Dr. Vicky R. Smith, vice president for academic services at Monroe Community College in Rochester, N.Y.

    The search committee is seeking a successor to Daniel Brown, Owens president since 1984, who has announced his intention to retire May 31.

    Dr. Paul Brown, dean of the college's Findlay campus programs, and Dr. Franklin K. Babcock, executive director of student development at Owens from 1996 to 1999, were the only current or former Owens administrators among the original candidates for the job.

    The college, with 15,500 students and campuses in Perrysburg Township and Findlay, is looking for a consensus-builder for its next president, someone with communication skills and a history of shared governance and promoting diversity, said John Moore, an Owens trustee and search committee chairman.

    “The consensus of the group was [the semifinalists] fit all the requirements or were so close that it warranted a face-to-face,” he said. “These individuals came back with `super' stars.”

    Now Dr. Narcisa Polonio, a consultant assisting with the search from the Association of Community College Trustees, will complete reference checks, he said.

    The committee will recommend five names to the Owens board of trustees following the April interviews, and the board expects to choose a president by July 1.