Regents sets qualifications for next NMC president

The next president of the Northern Marianas College must meet the requirements set by the school’s Board of Regents. A search committee has already been formed that has been tasked to screen all applicants and will be making the recommendation to the board.

The search committee has 10 members composed of two from the NMC faculty and one each from the NMC board, students, staff, alumni, an NMC dean or chief, CNMI Board of Education member, Saipan Chamber of Commerce, and two from the community.

The applicant for president, based on NMC Board of Regents resolution 2016-02, must have earned a doctorate degree from a U.S. accredited university or foreign equivalent; seven years of executive level management experience in an institution of higher education of which five years are continuous or a combination of at least seven years of executive level management including post-secondary education teaching experience; has an experience working in a multicultural environment, preferably in the Pacific region and in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands; demonstrated knowledge of Federal programs and grants application to higher education; and substantiated experience in accreditation processes, personnel management, budget development and presentation, strategic planning and institutional assessment, fundraising, mediation, and team building.

The search committee has set a one-month period of accepting applications that started from the first day of the publication of the job vacancy announcement last week. The committee is also giving former applicants for the NMC president post the opportunity to re-apply.

Cynthia I. Deleon Guerrero is the chairperson of the 10-member Presidential Search Committee, which will screen all applicants before making the recommendation to the Board of Regents. The board will then choose from the short list submitted by the committee who will be the next NMC president.

Gemma Noelani Somol (NMC student), Amanda Diaz and Patty Coleman (NMC faculty), Daisie Camacho-Renguul (NMC staff), lawyer Michael Evangelista (NMC alumni), NMC-Cooperative Research Extension and Education Service program dean Dr. Tim Kock (NMC administration), CNMI State Board of Education chairman Herman T. Guerrero, Saipan Chamber of Commerce president Velma Ann M. Palacios, and former senator Maria Frica Pangelinan are the other SC members.

The NMC president position will be getting a salary between $80,000 and $100,000. David Peter J. Attao, NMC’s Administration and Resource Development dean, is the acting NMC president.