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3 finalists for CCD helm

By Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published December 4, 2007 at 1:24 p.m.
Updated December 4, 2007 at 1:24 p.m.

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A search committee today named the final three candidates for the presidency of troubled Community College of Denver.

The three finalists are:

Karen Clos-Bleeker, chief academic officer at Temple College in San Antonio; Lawrence M. Cox, provost at Stark State College of Technology in North Canton, Ohio; and Algie C. Gatewood, president of the Cascade Campus of the Portland Community College in Oregon.

Five semifinalists visited the CCD campus last month, meeting students and faculty at public forums. The search committee reviewed feedback from the forums in determining the finalists.

Steve Maradian, president of Los Angeles City College; and Bob Rizzuto, vice president for finance and administration at Colorado State University, were dropped as finalists.

One of the three finalists will replace Barbara McDonnell, who has been serving as interim president of the 8,000-student campus since Christine Johnson was dismissed in June.

Johnson was a popular president, and a rising star in the Hispanic community. An audit produced allegations that Johnson mismanaged funds. The U.S. Department of Education is investigating CCD for possible financial aid fraud.

Some Hispanic leaders publicly questioned whether Johnson was held to a different standard because she was Hispanic.

The search committee, which received 45 applications for the presidency, is comprised of students, teachers, administrators and community members.

Dr. Nancy McCallin, president of the Colorado Community College System, will make the final decision, in consultation with the State Board for Community Colleges and Occupational Education.

Clos-Bleeker, while chief academic officer at Temple College, evaluated and reorganized financial aid services, which resulted in a doubling of the number of student financial aid awards, according to information on her application.

Cox in 2001 survived a no-confidence vote when his board at Olive-Harvey college in Chicago backed his decision to deny tenure to three teachers. He said he will always "stand for academic integrity."

Gatewood oversaw a $60 million campus renovation and construction project.