their opinions about the challenges and opportunities the college faces and what kind of leadership they think the college needs from a superintendent/president. Information from the forums will be used in a brochure.
       The board members and the audience decided that the search committee should consist of three faculty members, two classified employees, two administrators, one manager, one student and one foundation member - each chosen by the group represented. The committee will then select one of the 10 to act as a non-voting chair.
     Judy Peterson, campus liasion for the search process, said that by Oct. 28, the representative groups will submit the names of the search committee to the board for approval. Mitchell said that if the board members do not think that the committee is representative of the college district, they can ask the groups for other names that might better reflect the district's makeup. 
     In November, Mitchell will instruct the search committee as to its role and responsibilities in the search process and get advertising material ready for dissemination to colleges, mass media

and websites. 
     Detailed advertising for the superintendent/president will start in December, and applications must be submitted by Feb. 28, 2003. Mitchell estimates that 30 to 50 applicants will respond.
     In March, the search committee will screen the candidates, select candidates for interviews, do preliminary reference checks, interview 10 to 12 candidates and send about five names to the board. Mitchell said that the board always has the prerogative to look at names that the search committee did not select.
     By the end of April, the board will have interviewed finalists; conducted site visits; and made a final decision on a new president. By then, 16 months will have passed since former Superintendent/President Nicholas Halisky was put on leave on Dec. 11, 2001.
     In other board action in the same meeting, VVC Board President Dennis Henderson read a letter of apology from the board to Robert Richey Jr. (telecommunications) exonerating him of any complicity in the March 1999 drug affair and said Richey's lawyer's fees would be reimbursed.