Three candidates vie for presidential seat

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By Jon Parton

Declining enrollment and calls for budget cuts from legislators are some of the issues facing the leadership of the college.

With the upcoming departure of Terry Calaway, the college’s current president, the school has been searching for his replacement since December of last year.

That search resulted in three candidates: Edward “Ted” Raspiller, president, Blinn College’s Brazos County campuses; Richard Shrubb, president, Minnesota West Community and Technical College; and Joe Sopcich, executive vice president of administrative services – chief financial officer, Johnson County Community College.

Over the course of a few weeks, the presidential candidates were brought to the campus to speak to the Board of Trustees, the presidential search committee, community members, and the Student Senate.

The candidates engaged in conversation with the Student Senate, asking and answering questions about the college.

Raspiller has a doctorate in Adult Continuing Education and has served at a number of two-year colleges as both faculty and an administrator, including departmental chair at Old Dominion University and Waukesha County Technical College.

Although he did not have a specific plan for addressing budgetary concerns, he said he would like to look at what programs could be merged in order to save money for the school.

If the opportunity presented itself, Raspiller said he would love to teach a class at the college if it would not interfere with presidential duties.

“Community college is about teaching,” Raspiller said. “As long as that’s our guiding principle, we can’t go wrong.”

Shrubb received a doctorate in Higher Education/Higher Education Administration from the University of Southern Mississippi. He previously served as vice president of Terra State Community College and dean of general education at Southern State Community College.

Shrubb recently travelled to Russia thanks to a Fulbright scholarship. Shrubb said his trip was an eye-opening experience and helped him learn about farming communities in Russia.

He previously travelled to China and said he would like to continue sending students there as part of the school’s partnership with its sister school Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xian, China.

Shrubb said he wanted to talk to Gov. Sam Brownback and Kansas legislators in order to help keep the school financially stable.

Colleges are often too alike, according to Shrubb.

“I think the big strategy is to be unique,” Shrubb said. “Any college can offer an education. I want to sell the unique experience.”

Sopcich earned a doctorate in Higher Education Administration from KU. He previously worked at the Chicago Historical Society and Metropolitan Family Services.

Sopcich was awarded a Fulbright scholarship in 2011, allowing him to travel to Russia and study how the education system in Russia differs from that in the United States.

Public and private partnerships are a priority for the school, Sopcich said in regards to the school’s Sustainability program.

“Those are the types of relationships that are really important to this college and you can see some of the things that can happen through philanthropy,” Sopcich said.

Contact Jon Parton, managing editor, at jparton@jccc.edu

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