53 throw hat in ring for NWACC president

BENTONVILLE — Fiftythree people from 28 states have applied to be Northwest Arkansas Community College’s next president.

Ron Brascum, Board of Trustees member and selection committee chairman, updated the board on the search process at Monday’s meeting.

The application period is officially closed, Brascum said. The selection committee, comprising 21 stakeholders, will meet soon to narrow down a list of semifinalists, who will be interviewed virtually, he said. Three or four finalists will be chosen to visit the campus, participate in public forums and interview in-person with the board in late March, he said.

“I’m very pleased with where the process is at this point,” Brascum said. “We have a pretty large and active search committee. They have done an awesome job of communicating and being involved.”

The college hopes to hire a candidate in April, he said.

President Evelyn Jorgenson, 69, announced plans in February 2021 to retire when her contract ends on June 30. She has worked in education for 48 years and has served as Northwest Arkansas Community College president since 2013.

The board hired the Association of Community College Trustees out of Washington, D.C., in October to help find her replacement. Forums to gather faculty and student input to help inform the search took place in November. The college has budgeted $75,000 for the search.

In other business, an audit by Arkansas Department of Education Division of Career and Technical Education found the college is in full compliance with federal Office of Civil Rights regulations, according to Teresa Taylor, executive director of policy, risk management and compliance.

The audit program helps ensure students have equal access to career and technical education programs, she said.

The college received notification about the audit in January 2021 and appointed a team to review the expectations, Taylor said.

The audit included staff interviews; measurement of the physical features of all the campus’ facilities and buildings, such as entrances, equipment, signage, seat height, parking lots and bathroom layout; and a review of administration policies and procedures, services for students with disabilities, financial assistance, work study,

“We have a pretty large and active search committee. They have done an awesome job of communicating and being involved.”

— Ron Brascum, NWACC Board of Trustees member, selection committee chairman

enrollment, and job placement and advertising.

The entire process took seven months, including three months for the final review, Taylor said.

The audit found that five parking signs at two buildings were at an incorrect height, Taylor said. In some cases the signs were installed in the 1990s, she said. The ground around two signs had sunk since they were installed, she said. All of the signs have been fixed to be the correct height, she said.

The state team commended the college for how quickly teams responded, Taylor said. The audit process is beneficial because it helps institutions fix problems, she said.

“We want to make sure we are doing the very best we can for our students and for our employees,” she said.

A lot of detail went into preparing for the audit, Jorgenson said.

“She did a great job of leading her team through all these expectations,” Jorgenson said of Taylor.