After the Presidential Search Advisory Committee narrowed the field of candidates for the job of superintendent-president of SRJC to three finalists. The contenders introduced themselves and answered questions from staff, faculty and students in a series of forums last week. Despite the opportunity to meet the candidates some faculty and students think there are problems with the selection process.
The three finalists, Dr. Peter Quigley, Jeanine Hawk and Dr. Kevin Trutna each fielded questions for an hour and 40 minutes, covering topics from the strengths and weaknesses of SRJC to how to engage students and faculty who feel marginalized.
The forum, held in Newman auditorium, was telecast to the Petaluma campus where an audience of about 40 watched and participated in the proceedings.
Hawk felt that process was good for both the candidates and those who attended, saying she learned a lot about the school from the questions she was asked.
Lynda Williams, a physics instructor at SRJC, agreed: “I learned a lot this week about SRJC and what we face together in the future.”
While she found the forums educational and helpful, Williams thinks that the selection processes is being rushed.
“I feel that we are not given enough time to discuss and debate amongst ourselves the results of these forums,” Williams said in an e-mail to faculty members.
Students who attended the forum also felt under-represented in the process. Brittiany Bagwell, one of the few students in attendance, summed up her dissatisfaction. “Neither the faculty or the students, as far as I know, are involved at all. I don’t see the point of this,” she said.
The forum was held over three days with each candidate facing the audience alone. Despite some minor audio delays and poor video quality at the Petaluma campus, both those who attended in person and those who took part in the telecast were able to address the candidates.
Each candidate brought his or her own unique style of speaking. Quigley was engraining and wry, Hawk was attentive and considerate of the question asked, while Trutna was direct and succinct.
Quigley is the only candidate to come from outside the California junior college system. He is currently the associate vice president of Academic Affairs for the community college system for Hawaii. He is also the only candidate who has experience in both two- and four-year institutions; from 2007-09 he served as the vice chancellor at University of Hawaii, Mannoa.
Quigley was quick to stress his connection to California, pointing out that his secondary education started at Fullerton Community College where he received an associate’s degree. He continued to get BA and MA in English from CSU Fullerton and his Ph.D. from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Quigley also expressed his love of Northern California and added “I’m publishing a book next year largely on Northern California environmental poets.”
Hawk has the least teaching experience of the candidates, but possesses a strong business background with an MBA from Southern Oregon University and a BA in social sciences from UC Irvine.
She addressed concerns over her lack of classroom experience saying, “Why we are all here is we are passionate about education, we care about teaching and learning”
Since then she has served in many roles at community colleges in Oregon and California including, associate dean of administrative services at Rouge Community College, vice president of education resources and operations at De Anza College and vice president of business administration at Santa Monica College. She is currently the vice chancellor of administrative services for the San Jose Evergreen Community College District.
Trutna attended Loyola University on a water polo scholarship where he earned bachelors in mathematics. He continued his education at Montana State University where he studied mathematics and received a masters degree as well as a doctorate in education.
He has worked at community colleges both in Arizona and California. At Arizona Western College he started as a math instructor before becoming the honors program director and finally director of institutional effectiveness, research, planning and grants before leaving to work at Yuba Collage in California. At Yuba he is currently the vice president of Academic and student services.
Trutna highlighted his commitment to the campus for the long haul. “My grandfather worked 41 years for AT&T, my father worked 37 years for the Franchise Tax Board I am the black sheep of the family because I have had two jobs in my life,” he said.
Candidates were asked questions ranging from the importance of specific programs such as the library, theater arts and athletics to technical issues such as distance learning, however budgetary concerns were on the minds of many.
Each of the candidates acknowledged that the budget would be a challenge and that cooperation would be absolutely necessary for creating a strategy to deal with coming budget realities.
Ricardo Navarrette, vice president of Student Services at SRJC, facilitated the forum and started the questions by asking each of the candidates to explain their leadership style.
Both Quigley and Trutna likened their leadership style to their teaching style. Quigley stressed the importance of communication, “I’m an obsessive communicator,” he said. “I am an English major, I have a need to communicate with my species.”
Trutna put the emphasis on students: “I am an advocate for students, we have had budget cuts for the past couple years. Throughout it all I have tried to advocate for students, not just students in the class room but students throughout the entire institution.”
Hawks described her style as both collaborative and decisive. “As your chief executive you want some one who will ultimately make a decision and be able to work with your board of trustees and constituency representatives.”