Wayne Community College is giving the public an opportunity to participate in forums with its five finalists for college president.

Those candidates and their forum dates are:

• Dr. Patricia A. Pfeiffer, interim president of Wayne Community College, Oct. 19;
• Dr. Rodney A. Ellis, chancellor of Southern University at Shreveport, Oct. 21;
• Dr. Mark Curtis-Chávez, provost of College of DuPage, Oct 25;
• Dr. Vern L. Lindquist, vice president of academics of Lincoln Land Community College, Oct. 28; and
• Dr. Jennifer E. Orlikoff, campus president of Potomac State College, Nov. 2.

All of the forums will be held 3:30-4:30 p.m. in Moffatt Auditorium in the Wayne Learning Center on the college’s main campus in Goldsboro. In-person attendance will be capped at 200 people due to COVID-19 precautions. WCC requires that face masks be worn inside its facilities and outside when appropriate distance cannot be maintained between individuals.

Online participation will be available via Zoom and questions for the candidates will also be accepted in that forum.

More information about each candidate and the Zoom links for their forums can be found at www.waynecc.edu/presidential-search/.

Each finalist will be participating in a series of activities and meetings with various college constituent groups throughout the day of their forum.

WCC Board of Trustees Chair Geoff Hulse encouraged “widespread participation” in identifying the person “who will inspire and lead our institution toward fulfilling our mission of meeting the educational, training, and cultural needs of the communities we serve.”

“Your thoughts about these candidates being a fit for Wayne Community College’s priorities will help inform the selection of our next president” he said.

Executive Leadership Associates managed a nationwide search including vetting the applications and presenting the most promising candidates to the college’s search committee. That committee selected the five finalists.

The search committee is chaired by Hulse and Don Barnes, immediate past trustee chair. Other members include trustees Debbie Harris, Jimmie Ford, and Dr. David Tayloe; Foundation of Wayne Community College board member Jack Best, and WCC faculty member Haleigh Wilhide.

The search for WCC’s eighth president began in June when Dr. Thomas A. Walker Jr. announced his. departure for a position with the University of North Carolina System.

The trustees hope to have a new president in office in January 2022, in time to start the spring semester.