Gadsden State Community College could have a new president by the end of May, almost a year after the last one was removed because hundreds of employees voted they had no confidence in his leadership.

David O’Brien, general counsel for the Alabama Community College System, said the system’s chancellor, Mark Heinrich, individually interviewed each of the five finalists on campus in Gadsden Wednesday.

Gadsden State has one campus in Cherokee County, two campuses in Anniston and of course the main campus in Gadsden.

The five candidates include Valerie Richardson, vice president of Gadsden State; Hank Dunn, former president of Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College in North Carolina; Paul Gasparro, vice president for student services initiatives at Cuyahoga Community College District in Ohio; Steve Rook, vice president of academic and student affairs at Rich Mountain Community College in Arkansas; and William Rule, vice president of student affairs and technology advancement at Chattahoochee Technical College in Georgia.

The interview process comes nearly a year after the Community College System removed previous Gadsden State president Raymond Staats and replaced him with William Blow as interim president. Staats was removed in July after the College System investigated Gadsden State, prompted by a no-confidence vote from employees there.

Richardson has a doctorate of education degree from the University of Alabama and, among other duties, supervises the divisions of student services and institutional development at Gadsden State. She is also responsible for federal, state and local grant development and maintenance for institutional development. Richardson also assists the president in leading the community college.

Dunn has a doctorate in higher education administration from the University of Florida and served as the president of Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College from March 2010 to January 2014. At the time, he oversaw a $50 million annual budget, approximately 26,000 students each year and 1,000 employees. He previously worked as chancellor for the Central Indiana Region for the Ivy Tech Community College in Indianapolis, Ind., between July 2006 and February 2010 and as vice president of student services for Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio, from January 2002 to June 2006.

Gasparro has a doctorate in higher education leadership from Nova Southeastern University and is responsible for planning and leading the activities of multiple college-wide student success initiatives. Between 2011 and 2013 he served as president of the Cuyahoga campus and vice president of the college-wide district. As president, he oversaw a $23 million annual budget, along with hiring, training and evaluation of 207 full-time and 541 part-time employees. He also oversaw more than 6,500 students each year and was responsible for finding new funding streams for his community college.

Rook has a doctorate of higher education administration from the University of Arkansas and as vice president of Rich Mountain is responsible for the duties of the chief academic officer and the chief student affairs officer. He previously served as interim president of the community college from May 2011 to September 2011.

Rule has a doctorate in educational policy studies from Georgia State University and as vice president of student affairs at Chattahoochee, provides leadership and oversees strategic planning and budgeting for the various divisions of the unit, including admissions, registrar, disability services, athletics and career services. He also oversees the community college’s technology unit, which includes nearly 4,000 computers that are distributed to classrooms, labs and faculty offices.

Read more: Anniston Star – Gadsden State to have new president by end of May