Official: Mesalands president search to begin next year

The lengthy process of searching for a new president for Mesalands Community College will begin after the first of the new year, said J. Bronson Moore, trustee chairman.

"First of all, I want to ensure the residents and students that it's business as usual at the college," Moore said.

QCS photo: Thomas Garcia

Operations and classes continue as usual three weeks after Mildred Lovato was terminated as president of Mesalands Community College. Trustee Chair J. Bronson Moore said the students and staff can be assured that the college will continue to grow and expand its courses for the continuation of providing higher education services.

Moore said the termination of Mildred Lovato as president of the college is an unfortunate bump in the road. He said the college is going to continue to focus on the continued improvement of educational services for the students and the expansion of the colleges programs.

Moore said while the college continues to operate the board has ever bit of confidence that the two vice presidents will be able to handle the day-to-day operations of the college.

The duties of running the college in Lovato's absence have been placed in the combined hands of Natalie Gillard, vice president of academic affairs, and Aaron Kennedy, vice president of student affairs.

Moore said the Association of Community College Trustees had recommended a few applicants to act as interim president while the college searched for a new candidate for the position. He said he appreciated their gesture, but feels the job would best be handled by Gillard and Kennedy.

Moore said there is a lot of internal cleanup, from the implementation of new accounting and student service's software to administrative matters left incomplete by Lovato's vacancy. He said Gillard and Kennedy are more familiar with the current situation and can better communicate with the staff to address and correct the issues.

"It'd be to hard to bring in someone from the outside and have Gillard and Kennedy train them on what is going on while trying to do the job they were hired for," Moore said.

Moore said the advertisement; screening and application recommendations will be handled by the ACCT. He said a committee the board will form from various members of the community would review those screened applicants.

The board likes to have a wide variety of diversity on the committee, said Kimberly Hanna, public relations director.

Hanna said a similar committee reviewed six applicants, including Lovato, which were recommended by the ACCT. She said after their review each applicant was interviewed by the board of trustees.

Moore said the board informs the ACCT of the requirements, which an applicant must meet in order to be considered for the position of president of Mesalands. He said the process could take up to five months to complete.

Moore said the goal would be to have a new president by the start of the new fiscal year.