Seven on shortlist for MCC position

The Mesalands Community College board of trustees will go through a shortlist of seven candidates as the college’s next president.

Board Chairman Jim Streetman announced the names after a 25-minute closed executive session during the board’s regular meeting March 16.

In a follow-up phone interview Wednesday, Streetman said the college’s search committee had winnowed the list from an initial 67 applicants.

Streetman said he spent much of Wednesday morning contacting the initial eight candidates. One withdrew at that time due to personal reasons, he said.

He said during the meeting the board probably would hold a series of closed special meetings this week to interview candidates.

The candidates are:

• Gregory Todd Busch of Oro Valley, Arizona, listed on LinkedIn.com as founder and executive senior consultant of The Busch Professional Group consulting firm;

• Todd M. Ecklund of Pueblo, Colorado, listed on LinkedIn.com as chief academic officer at Pueblo Community College;

• Laura L. McCullough of Hurricane, West Virginia, listed on LinkedIn.com as vice president of BridgeValley Community and Technical College;

• Melanie Jones Owen of Hanford, California, president of Maximus Engineering;

• Anthony R. Petroy of Overland Park, Kansas, listed on LinkedIn.com as president and chief academic officer at Grantham University;

• Randy Smith of Holdenville, Oklahoma, listed on LinkedIn.com as president and CEO of the Rural Community College Alliance;

• Gregory M. South of Terra Bella, California, whom Streetman said is interim vice president of academic affairs of Porterville College.

Streetman said state law binds the college to select a president within 21 to 30 days after publishing a legal notice this week about the candidates.

That means Mesalands would choose its new president by mid- to late April.

The college’s previous president, John Groesbeck, was placed on indefinite paid administrative leave in March 2020 for undisclosed reasons and fired the next month. Groesbeck had been president for less than two years.

Groesbeck later filed a whistleblower and retaliation complaint in Quay County against Mesalands. The lawsuit is pending.

Natalie Gillard, the college’s vice president of academic affairs, served as acting president since Groesbeck’s dismissal.