Candidate for AWC presidency withdraws

One of four finalists for the position of president of Arizona Western College has withdrawn her candidacy for the post in the wake of reports she had defaced a traffic sign at a college where she was formerly the dean.

The AWC District Governing Board announced Betsy Boze’s withdrawal Friday evening in a news release that offered no other details, except to say she would be pursuing other interests.

In a previous report in its online edition, www.kentnewsnet.com, the Kent State student newspaper, The Daily Kent Stater, quoted Jackson Township police reports that said Boze used a can of spray paint to alter the appearance of a Stark State Community College parking sign in February. Kent State's Stark campus shares the land used for parking with Stark State Community College, a neighboring institution that has no affiliation with Kent State.

Boze said in the story she was not trying to vandalize the sign, but rather was correcting an arrow that was misdirecting Stark State students to a Kent State parking lot.

No arrests were made in the incident and no charges were filed against Boze.

The announcement of Boze’s withdrawal as a finalist came after The Sun reported the sign alteration incident on its Web site Friday.

Messages left by The Sun seeking comment from Boze were not immediately returned Friday.

Shortly after the sign incident, Boze resigned for personal reasons that had nothing to with the sign, according to the online story. She was quoted as saying "the time was right for me to resign."

Boze had served as Kent State Stark campus dean since July 2005. The Stark campus is the university's largest regional campus, with an enrollment of nearly 4,000 students. Before that, she was dean of the School of Business at the University of Texas, Brownsville.

AWC is seeking a new president to succeed Don Schoening, who is retiring at the end of June.

Marge Barcomb, AWC co-chair of the presidential search committee, said Friday she had been made aware of the sign alteration allegations only after Boze was named among the four finalists.

"The (governing) board will certainly get to the bottom of this, because it will never knowingly hire someone who had committed a crime," Barcomb said Friday, prior to word of Boze’s withdrawal of her candidacy. "But we need to check out the allegations. We want all the facts."

The remaining three finalists include Dennis Brown, vice president of instruction and chief academic officer at El Paso Community College in Texas; Berton “Bert” Glandon, president of Arapahoe Community College in Colorado, and Dr. Marc Nigliazzo, vice president of Rio Rancho Operations and Branch Academic Affairs at the University of New Mexico.

Brown has 34 years in a community college setting, which includes serving as a full-time tenured faculty member, division chair, associate provost for institutional effectiveness and vice president of instruction/chief academic officer.

He earned his bachelor’s degree from Northern Arizona University and his associate degree from AWC.

Glandon has more than 31 years of community college experience. He has held positions that include director of the Washington Business Enterprise Program.

Nigliazzo has more than 17 years of experience as a community college president in Texas. After 13 years as a community college president, he accepted a vice president position where he was able to establish a new campus for the University of New Mexico.

"The overall search process is very positive," Barcomb said. "And we still have a pool of very powerful candidates. Rest assured, we will make the appropriate choice."

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CANDIDATE FORUMS

The public will have an opportunity to meet the remaining AWC president candidates. Meetings will be held at the Dr. Schoening Conference Center in the College Community Center (3C) at the following times:

-- Tuesday, 10 a.m. - Berton Glandon

-- Tuesday, 2 p.m. - Dennis Brown

-- Thursday, 12:15 p.m. - Mark Nigliazzo