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EGCC seeks input on new president
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
The new president of Eastern Gateway Community College should be someone with a community-college background who has experience working across various locations and diverse cultures.
That was some of the input offered Thursday by the five people — all college employees — who attended a public forum designed to gather information that will be used to develop the presidential profile.
President Laura Meeks announced earlier this year that she would retire in July 2015. She’s been president of, first, Jefferson Community College, which expanded in 2009 to include Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties to become Eastern Gateway, for 15 years.
“We’ve got a big job ahead of us,” John T. Gilmore, trustee chairman who also serves on the search committee, said during the forum at First Presbyterian Church.
He said he’s amazed at what the college has accomplished in the past four years.
The college has retained the Association of Community College Trustees Search Consultants of Washington, D.C., to conduct the search with tentative plans calling for a new president to be selected by March.
Julie Golder of ACCT asked attendees about the opportunities and challenges facing a new president, that individual’s ideal characteristics and the minimum qualifications.
James Senary, who teaches business at the Valley Center, said he believes the new president should have experience with colleges in multiple locations that are multicultural.
Dante Zambrini, interim vice president at the Valley Center, pointed to the college’s potential to grow from 3,000 students to between 6,000 and 8,000 in the coming years.
“I think it would be good to have someone with larger community-college experience or with expansions under his or her leadership,” he said.
Zambrini also stressed the importance of partnerships with higher education and kindergarten-through-12th- grade organizations.
He said the next president needs to be involved in the community like Meeks, who he described as “warm, friendly and likeable.”
“We need someone with Dr. Meeks’ vision,” Gilmore added.
“Vision as well as energy level,” Senary said.
As far as qualifications, Golder asked the handful of attendees if they believed a doctorate was a requirement for the next president.
“I don’t feel a doctorate is a necessary requirement,” Senary said. “But personal experience with a community college, maybe at a community college themselves or as a parent, is maybe more important.”
Gilmore disagreed.
“In today’s world or credentials, it’s a hurdle you can’t get by,” he said.
Senary pointed out that Youngstown State University President Jim Tressel doesn’t have a doctorate.