In May, Penelope Wills announced that she would be stepping down as president of Yavapai College at the end of 2018. The Yavapai College board has since created a committee to handle its search for a new president, and has brought on Pam Fischer, a search consultant at the Association of Community College Trustees, to handle the process.
The college is accepting applicants from across the country for the position. According to a timeline prepared by the search committee and Fischer, applications will be accepted until Oct. 26, with the search committee narrowing it down to finalists by late November. In early December, the finalists will come for interviews, public forums and campus tours, with a hope of having a decision by the end of the year. The new president will begin in February.
“Each candidate that goes through the process will have their own unique skills and qualifications, so it will be important to determine which are the best fit to continue moving YC forward,” Yavapai College District Governing Board Member Karen McCarver wrote in an email.
The presidential profile prepared by the search committee calls for “a strong, experienced and visionary leader as the next president of the college.” It seeks a candidate ready to, among other tasks, increase enrollment growth and raise completion rates.
To include input from the community on the presidential search, Fischer held public forums at the Prescott and Verde Valley campuses on Aug. 27, allowing people to ask questions and make suggestions for the ongoing search.
“Everybody wants the perfect candidate,” Fischer said in her opening remarks at the Verde Valley forum, before joking that most colleges would include the ability to walk on water in their criteria if they could.
Members of the public came with requests related to marketing, tuition costs and the necessity of a president that would put students first.
“The most common thing I’ve heard in terms of the traits of an effective president is a strong leader who can continue moving YC forward and continue to provide our students the most impactful and affordable education that we possibly can,” McCarver wrote.
At the Verde Valley forum, a frequent request was for more attention to be paid to the Verde Valley campus, with many feeling that the college’s main campus in Prescott treats the campus in Clarkdale as an afterthought. One person who spoke at the forum mentioned a student seeking to take a chemistry class before realizing that it was not offered at all on the Verde Valley campus.
“We want a fair and equitable allocation of resources to our communities, and that hasn’t been happening for the past decade,” said one Sedona resident who attended the meeting, complaining that much of the tax revenue that pays for the college had been used to improve the Prescott campus under the previous leadership.
At the end of the meeting, Santana Alvarado, an employee in the financial aid office for the college, spoke up, introducing himself as a lifelong Verde Valley resident, a child of Verde Valley residents, and a graduate of local schools who works at the Clarkdale campus.
“If you don’t think Verde Valley is going to be represented, I’m actually on the search committee,” Alvarado said. Alvarado acknowledged the disconnect between the campuses, but sought to reassure people that their voices were being heard.
“Executive leadership and the members of the board continue to explore ways in which we can best serve all the populations of all of our communities,” McCarver wrote. “That can be a challenge in light of the geographic expanse of our district, as well as the decreased funding from the state, but it’s one we continue to address for the good of our students and their futures.”
Jon Hecht can be reached at 634-8551, or email jhecht@larsonnewspapers.com
