Over 50 Applications Submitted for RichmondCC's Presidential Position

Aug. 9, 2024 - Richmond Community College’s Presidential Search Committee will begin reviewing on Monday the 12 candidates selected from over 50 applications for the president’s position. The committee will select five candidates who will be interviewed by the full Board of Trustees.

Joe Barwick, president and managing partner of Executive Leadership Associates LLP, presented this information at the Board of Trustees’ meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 6.

“The full Board will select three finalists, who will be vetted by the State Board in September,” Barwick said.

Executive Leadership Associates is the company that was hired to conduct the search for a new president upon Dr. Dale McInnis’ announcement to retire at the end of October.

The State Board will announce the new president for RichmondCC mid-October.

In other news, two new members have been appointed to the Board of Trustees, Dr. Scott Brewer and Iris McRae, who attended their first meeting last Tuesday.

Brewer was appointed by the N.C. House of Representatives with a term expiring in June 2027; McRae was appointed by the N.C. Senate with a term expiring in June 2028.

Dr. Qunna Morrow, Dean of Allied Health & Human Services, announced that 50 graduates from the Associate Degree Nursing Class of 2024 have passed the NCLEX exam to be licensed as a registered nurse.

“We had 53 to graduate the ADN program this spring, giving us a 94 percent passage rate. This was the largest cohort with the highest passage rate, so we are very proud of this achievement,” Morrow said.

For the Practical Nursing program, of the nine students who graduated in July, seven have taken the NCLEX exam to be licensed practical nurses; all seven have passed.

As students prepare to return to campus for the start of fall semester on Wednesday, Aug. 14, the Board of Trustees was presented data on the money students will save with the move to digital textbooks.

If all 2023 fall semester traditional students bought a new textbook from the Follett Bookstore last fall 2023, the total paid would have been $774,897.97. In contrast, if the digital textbook option had been in place last fall, traditional students would have paid a total of $207,952 for books. That is equal to a savings of $566,946 on books.

The board was presented similar data for the savings passed onto the school systems that buy books for high school students taking college classes at RichmondCC.

“We know that not all students buy a new book, as some buy used books, rent or borrow books, or don’t even buy any books at all, the move to digital textbooks is huge savings for our students, and we look forward to helping them with this transition with the fall semester,” Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Brent Barbee said.