Saint Paul, Century prez favorites named; Anoka search scrapped
Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) system Chancellor James McCormick has announced he's recommending these people for the presidencies of two MnSCU colleges -- but scrapping the search for a third.
He's recommending the following:
Saint Paul College: Rassoul Dastmozd, vice president of instruction at Clark College in Washington; and
Century College: Ron Anderson, vice president of academic affairs at Century College.
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Anoka-Ramsey Community College and Anoka Technical College, however, still have no permanent president. Jessica Stumpf, current interim president of Anoka-Ramsey, will serve as interim president of both colleges, which will be governed by one person starting this summer.
McCormick did not take any of these three Anoka semifinalists: Ron Erickson, president and chief executive officer of Hocking College in Ohio and former dean at Dakota County Technical College; Alex Kajstura, provost of the Norfolk campus of Tidewater Community College in Virginia; and Constance Mierendorf, senior adviser at Hudson County Community College in New Jersey.
Spokeswoman Melinda Voss said a veteran staffer, who's been at MnSCU for about a dozen years, couldn't remember the last time MnSCU had to scratch a presidential search.
"Sometimes, there’s just not a match," said Voss.
I asked her what elements were missing from this group -- obviously elements that would be important in the future crop of candidates.
She wouldn't say, only that "there were some withdrawals from the pool," and "we thought it would be important to have someone able to step right into this alignment process."
Stumpf would serve a year, and MnSCU would start a new search for a permanent president later this year.
The Board of Trustees should approve McCormick's recommendations April 20.