Committee will review chancellor applications and conduct interviews in private before making recommendations to the board.
Alison Graef
agraef@student.alamo.edu
The board voted to select 20 voting committee members to advise the board in the search for the next chancellor at a special board meeting Dec. 5 at Killen Center. Three nonvoting members were appointed as well.
Included on the committee as voting members are three board members, one district official, three faculty, one staff member, two students, five representatives of educational institutions and five business and community leaders.
The committee will meet in closed meetings with Gold Hill Associates, a hiring consultant firm, Jan. 19 and Jan. 25 and will conduct closed candidate interviews Feb. 1 and Feb. 2 at Killen. The committee will ultimately make about five candidate recommendations to the board.
District 2 trustee Denver McClendon said the committee members were chosen on the basis of their experiences to provide relevant and informed insight. McClendon said he and other members of the board were selected to serve on the committee because of their experience serving on the board and working with Chancellor Bruce Leslie and previous chancellors.
Leslie said it is common practice for board members to serve on an advisory committee to the board when searching for a chancellor.
“This is the board’s decision,” Leslie said. “The board hires the chancellor, and really the board doesn’t hire anyone else. … It is normal for the board, not only to have a few people (on an advisory committee), but in many cases, it’s just the board. The board will do it without any advisory committee. This board has chosen to follow the practice that was used when I was hired and find a committee that is broadly represented.”
McClendon said he served on the board when Leslie was selected as chancellor. He said Board Chair Yvonne Katz, District 7 trustee, and Vice Chair Marcelo Casillas, District 4 trustee, served on the advisory committee that helped select Leslie for chancellor.
Leslie said the committee will make its recommendations to the board, but ultimately the board has the authority to interview and hire any of the applicants.
The committee includes:
Yvonne Katz – board chair
Marcelo Casillas – board vice chair
Denver McClendon – District 2 trustee
Alicia Moreno – student trustee
Dr. Tom Cleary – vice chancellor for planning, performance and information systems, Alamo Colleges District
Cynthia Katz – professor, St. Philip’s College, and president of the Faculty Super Senate
Arianna Lay – advising team leader, Palo Alto College, and president of the districtwide Staff Senate
Quentin Longoria – student, San Antonio College, and president, Student District Council
Dr. Archie Wortham – professor, Northeast Lakeview College
Dr. Lisa Black – professor, San Antonio College
Anthony White – chair, Alamo Colleges Foundation
Dr. Cynthia Teniente-Matson – president, TAMUSA
Bobby Blount Jr. – trustee, Northside ISD
Dr. Emilio Castro – superintendent, Edgewood ISD
Dr. Saul Hinojosa – superintendent, Somerset ISD
Ramiro Cavazos – president, San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
Will Raba – president, vice chairman of the board, Raba Kistner
Kate Rogers – vice president, communications and health promotion, H-E-B
Mario Lozoya – director of governmental relations and external affairs, Toyota Motor North America
Maria Tijerina – COPS/Metro Alliance
The following are nonvoting members of the committee:
Linda Boyer-Owens – associate vice chancellor, Alamo Colleges District
Michelle Perales – deputy to the chancellor, Alamo Colleges District
Dr. Steve Kinslow – search consultant, Gold Hill Associates