Eighteen candidates have applied to be the next chancellor of Phillips Community College.
The community college is an arm of the University of Arkansas System and has campuses in Helena-West Helena, DeWitt and Stuttgart. The current chancellor, Steven Murray, 64, plans to retire June 30.
Murray served at the helm of the 1,797-student community college since 2003 and earned $163,634 annually. The UA System board of trustees last week approved his early retirement agreement, which included a lump sum payment of $81,816.96 and the full cost of current health insurance benefits. The health insurance benefits could be as much as $8,038, system officials said.
The 18 applicants are:
• Ashok Roy of Fairbanks, Alaska, vice president for finance and administration, chief financial officer for the University of Alaska System from June 2012 to present.
• Dr. Himesh Lakhlani of Jacksonville, Fla., president and CEO of Jacksonville Management and Staffing, a health care management firm.
• Johnny Jones, who lists an address out of Sioux City, Iowa, but works as president of the Little Priest Tribal College in Winnebago, Neb.
• Kevin Stewart of Alexandria, La., vice chancellor for academic and student affairs at Central Louisiana Technical Community College.
• Greg Hudson of Robinsonville, Miss., Coahoma Community College vice president for student affairs and support services.
• Ronald Spriggs of Amarillo, Texas, managing partner of The Spriggs Law Offices.
• Julie Amstutz of Stuttgart, an elementary school principal for DeWitt Public School.
• Richard Tompkins of Rogers, vice president for learning at Northwest Arkansas Community College.
• James Maxwell of Jacksonville, Ill., provost and vice president for academic affairs and student life at MacMurray College.
• Donald Green of Jacksonville, Fla., president of Higher Academic Innovations, a higher education consulting firm, and the past executive vice president for instruction and student services at Florida State College.
• Wayne Hatcher of Pocahontas, former president of Black River Technical College.
• Martin Shapiro of Stamford, Conn., professor of marketing, management and international business at Berkeley College in New York and New Jersey.
• Nicole Bradford of Frisco, Texas, teacher at A.W. Brown-Fellowship Leadership Academy, a charter school serving prekindergarten to eighth-grade students.
• Steven Yoho of Roswell, Ga., campus president of Argosy University.
• John Vassiliou of Miami, Fla., former dean of student affairs at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pa.
• Godwin Chungag of Coral Springs, Fla., dean of information technology and engineering at Broward College in Fort Lauderdale.
• Nathan Williams of Pendleton, Ore., principal at C&L Associates, a management, programmatic, technical and financial consulting firm for higher education institutions, and former president of Cowley County Community College in Kansas.
• James Rook of Mena, vice president for student and academic affairs at Rich Mountain Community College.
A 17-member search committee appointed by UA System President Donald Bobbitt will whittle down the list of candidates and make recommendations to Bobbitt and the trustees.
Interested candidates should submit an application, a letter of interest, a curriculum vitae and three letters of reference. Packets can be mailed to: PCCUA Chancellor Search Committee, Rhonda St. Columbia, P.O. Box 785, Helena-West Helena, Ark. 72342.
The committee will review applications as they come in and plans to select six to eight candidates for telephone or Skype interviews in April. The group will further pare down the list to three or four finalists, each of whom will visit the college campuses during a two-day interview period.
The committee is hoping to have a final recommendation for Bobbitt by May, allowing for the president to submit the recommendation to the board of trustees.
Metro on 03/22/2015