GLENDALE ? The Glendale Community College Board of Trustees has determined its version of the Final Four.
The board and the superintendent selection committee on Friday narrowed its search for a candidate to replace John Davitt as superintendent to four.
The finalists ? Sharon Kaye Dyer, Bonita Jacobs, Audre Levy and Willard Clark Lewallen ? will be introduced to the public during an open forum at 3:30 p.m. on April 12 in the college auditorium.
District officials are conducting detailed background checks and the board will conduct final interviews after the forum, said Kathleen Burke-Kelly, board vice president. The board will name the finalist on May 15.
The board formed a 19-member Advisory Hiring Committee made up of community members, faculty, staff members, administrators, students and two nonvoting board members, Burke-Kelly and Armine Hacopian.
Burke-Kelly, who is a former Glendale Community College student, was hired by Davitt as a faculty member.
"He's been instrumental in where the college is today," she said of Davitt. "His leadership and direction has made it the institution it is in terms of curriculum, staff and facilities."
Davitt, 73, announced his retirement in the spring of 2004.
He has held the position for 21 years and has been an administrator of the college for 38 years.
His last day will be June 30.
The college began soliciting applications in November, and stopped looking at the end of February. Finding Davitt's replacement is critical, Burke-Kelly said.
"It will set the direction for the college for the next several years," she said. A final decision is expected in May.
Dyer, the president at Cerro Coso Community College in Ridgecrest, earned her doctorate in educational leadership at Gonzaga University.
Jacobs, vice president for student development and associate professor of counseling, development and higher education at the University of North Texas, earned her doctorate in educational administration with an emphasis in higher education at Texas A&M University.
Levy, president of Los Angeles Southwest College, earned a doctorate in institutional management from Pepperdine University.
Lewallen, vice president of student services at Victor Valley College in Victorville, earned his doctoral degree in education from the UCLA.
Under Davitt's tenure student population has nearly tripled from 8,000 to 23,000 and the college constructed nine new buildings and refurbished four others.
