Northwest Arkansas Community College president finalists set to visit Bentonville campus

File Photo/NWA Democrat-Gazette/JASON IVESTER Students walk across campus to the Becky Paneitz Student Center on Jan. 30 at Northwest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville. The college's board approved Thursday a balanced budget with a 3.1 percent increase over the 2017.
File Photo/NWA Democrat-Gazette/JASON IVESTER Students walk across campus to the Becky Paneitz Student Center on Jan. 30 at Northwest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville. The college's board approved Thursday a balanced budget with a 3.1 percent increase over the 2017.

BENTONVILLE -- The three finalists for the president's job at Northwest Arkansas Community College are expected to meet with the Board of Trustees and community members today through Thursday.

The finalists include Wade Derden, vice president for academic affairs at National Park College in Hot Springs; Dennis Rittle, president of Cowley College in Arkansas City, Kan.; and Ricky Tompkins, vice president of learning/chief academic officer at Northwest Arkansas Community College.

Each candidate is scheduled to be on campus for one day. Rittle will visit today, Derden will visit Wednesday and Tompkins' day will be Thursday, according to a news release Monday from the college.

Each day will follow the same schedule. The candidate will meet with President Evelyn Jorgenson in the morning and tour college facilities. A one-hour open forum will be held starting at 3 p.m. with the candidate; community members may join either online or in-person at White Auditorium in Burns Hall. The candidate then will meet with board members for an interview at 4:45 p.m., followed by dinner with the board at 7 p.m. at Brightwater: A Center for the Study of Food, according to the release.

Information about the candidates -- as well as links to join the community forums and surveys to provide feedback on the candidates -- can be found online at presidentsearch.nwacc.edu/searchprocess.

Jorgenson, 70, is retiring this summer after nine years as president. The board hired the Association of Community College Trustees of Washington in October to help find her replacement.

Fifty-three people applied for the job. A college search committee chose eight semifinalists last month to interview. Following those interviews, the committee recommended the three finalists to the board.

Derden has served in his current position since 2015, according to his resume. He previously was chairman of the social sciences division for four years at National Park College, and before that was a history and political science instructor at Pulaski Technical College for eight years. Derden earned a doctorate in public policy from the University of Arkansas in 2011.

Rittle has been Cowley College's president since 2015, according to his resume. Cowley College, located in south-central Kansas, had 3,762 students as of the 2019-20 school year, according to the school's website. Rittle previously served three years as provost and executive vice president of learning at Ozarka College in Melbourne. He received his doctorate in organizational leadership from Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va., in 2009.

Tompkins has served in various administrative roles with Northwest Arkansas Community College since 2006, starting as director of its Institute for Corporate and Public Safety, according to his resume. He earned his doctorate from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2005.

Northwest Arkansas Community College is the largest two-year college in the state. The school reported an enrollment of 6,402 students as of the 11th day of classes this semester.

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