PVCC Will Hold Student Forums as the Search for a New College President Continues

Students will have the chance to meet the presidential candidates coming to PVCC this April as the search for Dr. Frank Friedman’s successor continues. Of the 96 original applicants, the search has been narrowed down to four individuals. Each candidate will be at PVCC for two days having a variety of interviews and open forums with the community, student body, and faculty. 

The first to arrive will be Dr. Patrick Tompkins from Eastern Virginia. Tompkins is currently vice president for Academic, Student and Workforce Education at Eastern Shore Community College. He will be at PVCC on Monday, April 4 and Tuesday, April 5. For all wishing to attend, there will be a student forum in the Bolick Student Center at noon on April 4. 

On April 6 and 7, Dr. Julie Leidig, provost of the Loudoun Campus at Northern Virginia Community College, will be visiting PVCC from Centreville, Virginia. There will be another student forum on Wednesday at noon for anyone wishing to meet Leidig. 

The following week, from Monday to Thursday, there will be two more candidates visiting PVCC. Dr. Jean Runyon from April 11-12 followed by Dr. Walt Tobin from April 13 – 14. On April 11 and April 13, there will again be student forums at noon in the Student Center. Runyon and Tobin hail from Colorado and South Carolina respectively. Runyon is the campus vice president of Front Range Community College and Tobin is president of Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College. More information about the finalists can be found on PVCC’s presidential search page. A full itinerary can also be found on PVCC’s website. 

These student forums will have a large impact on the final choice of candidate, and all students are encouraged to participate as much as they can. Students can submit questions to be asked during the student forums until March 30. Students can find the form through which to submit questions on the Canvas home page. Students are encouraged to attend as many forums as they can as this is a time for the presidential candidates to engage with the campus. They can be attended either in person or over Zoom. If students do attend a forum, they are asked to please submit feedback afterwards. All feedback is submitted anonymously and allows the college to gather student perspectives on the prospective college presidents.