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A committee of administrators, faculty and classified staff attended a forum

on Thursday in which they learned more about the three finalists for the Vice President of Academic Affairs position available.

Cerritos College President and Superintendent Linda Lacy who attended the forum, explained what the vice president of

Academic Affairs does.

“Vice President of Academic Affairs takes care of all the academic areas, the

classroom type of activities, courses offered and programs offered,” she said.

The finalists were John Weispfennig from Santiago Canyon College, JoAnna

Downey-Schilling from Rio Hondo College, and A. Cathleen Greiner from Cuesta College.

Each finalist had 30 minutes to share statements, experiences and answer questions from faculty.

“There were close to 50 applicants and there was a committee set up and that original committee chose who they want to interview so we did a series of interviews,” she said.

Lacy continued, “We interviewed around 12 people and then they [the committee] narrowed it down to five candidates and then I narrowed it down to three.”

Weispfennig explained why he will be good for the position.

“Admissions and records is probably one of my closest callings on my campus because if I have a problem where a student has an issue that needs to be solved, quite frequently I would go to her and say, ‘Linda what can we do to help this student?’ and so we collaborate with finding answers,” he said.

He hopes the bring a spirit of collaboration to Cerritos.

Downey-Schilling shared her commitments with students.

“I’ve made that commitment to care about students, to care about you, to care about my co-workers, and find ways to treat others with kindness and respect,” she said.

Greiner shared what she would particularly bring to the school.

“[I would focus on] student success, that sense of engagement and validating our students at the hardest student retention and persistence and success, I stay up on this on my own,” she said.

She is looking for somewhere where she can make an impact.

Lacy will have the final interviews this week.

“We’ll look at the input look at all of the things they [the finalists] went through so far and they’re going to summarize it,” she said.

According to Lacy, the forum was just to add variety of input.

“It’s a great process, had a great turnout and I’m looking forward to getting a new person on board,” she said.

“It’s a tough time in community colleges and I was very pleased by all candidates.”