BENTONVILLE -- Northwest Arkansas Community College has chosen its next leader, one from another community college in Kansas.
The Northwest Arkansas Community College board of trustees voted unanimously during a special meeting Friday to enter into contract negotiations with Dennis Rittle, president of Cowley College in Arkansas City, Kan., to be the Bentonville college's fourth president.
That decision capped a week in which the board interviewed the three finalists for the job. On Friday, the board met in executive session for about 90 minutes before deciding to hire Rittle.
The other two finalists were Wade Derden, vice president for academic affairs at National Park College in Hot Springs, and Ricky Tompkins, vice president of learning/chief academic officer at Northwest Arkansas Community College.
DeAnne Witherspoon, board chairwoman, said contract negotiations with Rittle will begin next week.
Evelyn Jorgenson, the college's president since 2013, is retiring this summer.
A salary range for the position was not advertised. Jorgenson is earning $205,000 this school year, according to Grant Hodges, a college spokesman.
Rittle, 52, could not be reached for comment Friday.
Cowley College in south-central Kansas had 3,762 students as of the 2019-20 school year, according to the school's website. Rittle has been Cowley's president since July 2015.
Rittle was technical advancement director at Butler Community College in El Dorado, Kan., from May 2007 to February 2010, according to his resume. He then served as associate director of technical programs and curriculum at the Kansas Board of Regents from March to December 2010.
He went on to become dean of academic affairs at Brown Mackie College in Salina, Kan., until July 2012. He left that job to become provost and executive vice president of learning at Ozarka College in Melbourne, Ark. -- also a community college -- for three years, until taking the Cowley president's job.
Before his career in higher education, Rittle spent six years as lead pastor and CEO of Crossroads Community Church in Mechanicsburg, Pa. He received his doctorate in organizational leadership from Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va., in 2009.
Northwest Arkansas Community College is the largest two-year college in the state, with 6,402 students.