Trustees name three finalists for president of Edmonds College
10/15/2010
After a national search, Edmonds College’s Board of Trustees has selected three finalists, all with extensive higher education experience, for the position of Edmonds College president. The finalists are Marty Cavalluzzi, Don Doucette, and Jean Hernandez.
The trustees — Mauri Moore, Quentin Powers, Dick Van Hollebeke, Jeannette Wood, and Emily Yim — will schedule interviews with the finalists during the first or second week of November. There will be no other forums or meetings scheduled with the candidates. The new president is expected to begin work in January.
Edmonds College’s presidential search began last spring after Jack Oharah, the college’s president of 14 years, announced that he would retire at the end of 2010. A presidential search committee made up of 11 college students and employees and seven community members helped screen the applicants. The college received 55 applications from people in 26 states.
This fall the Trustees named six finalists and brought them to campus for open public forums with students, college employees, and community members. In addition to the public forums, the candidates met with a full spectrum of campus community groups during the day including the Edmonds College Foundation, Instructional Staff, Classified Employees, Workforce Development and Self-Support programs, President's Cabinet, the Board of Trustees, College Relations and Advancement, and Student Services staff.
The Trustees considered the results of nearly 600 assessment forms and comments submitted by community members, students, faculty, exempt, and classified staff. They narrowed the field of finalists to their top three at their regular meeting on Oct. 14.
About the finalists:
Marty Cavalluzzi is the vice president for instruction and chief academic officer at Edmonds College, a position he had held for four years. Earlier in his career, he served as the dean of science and math at Seattle Central Community College, the associate dean for math and science at Northwest Indian College on the Lummi Indian Reservation, as a faculty research assistant at Oregon State University, and as an instructor at the Orange County Marine Institute (now The Coast Institute). Cavalluzzi earned both a doctorate and a master’s degree in marine science from the College of William and Mary, a bachelor’s degree in fisheries from Humboldt State University, and an Associate of Arts degree from Orange Coast College.
Don Doucette currently serves as senior vice president and provost for Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana. Doucette joined Ivy Tech from Metropolitan Community Colleges of Kansas City, Missouri, a five-college community college district, where he served as vice chancellor for education and technology. Previously, he served in various leadership and administrative capacities for the League for Innovation in the Community College, Johnson County Community College, and the Maricopa County Community College District. He earned his doctorate in higher education and master’s in English from Arizona State University and bachelor’s in English from Cornell University.
Jean Hernandez is the vice president for instruction at South Seattle Community College and recently served as the interim president. She began her community college career at Shoreline Community College by teaching multicultural studies, followed by a promotion to dean. She then joined Cascadia Community College as the executive vice president for student learning. She has served in numerous leadership roles with the Washington state community and technical college system. In addition, she worked in university environments in the areas of human resources, admissions, and career services. She received her doctorate from the University of Washington and her master’s and bachelor’s degrees from the University of North Texas.
###
Established in 1967, accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, and governed by the Washington State Board of Community and Technical Colleges, Edmonds College is a leader in providing quality opportunities for learning and service, responding to the dynamic needs of our diverse community. The college serves more than 20,000 students annually. www.edmonds.edu