Finalists named for Pima Community College chancellorship

After an almost year-long search, Pima Community College has announced two finalists for its next chancellor.

The final candidates are Veronica Garcia, president of Northeast Lakeview College in Universal City, Texas, and Jeffrey Nasse, provost and senior vice president of academic affairs and college operations at Broward College in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

Currently, Dolores Duran-Cerda serves as interim chancellor. Before her stint, she was the provost and executive vice chancellor at PCC.

The community college’s former chancellor, Lee Lambert, left last August to become chancellor of the Foothill De Anza Community College district in California. His annual salary while helming PCC was $348,935.

A chancellor is the chief executive officer of a community college system, and generally sets direction for the academic, fiscal and administrative programs on campus.

There will be public forums for both candidates next week.

Garcia will speak at the District Office Community Board Room at 4905 E. Broadway on Monday, June 10, at 5:30 p.m.

Nasse’s forum will take place the following day, in the same place and at the same time. The forums will also be livestreamed on the PCC YouTube page.

The PCC Governing Board hopes to make a decision by the end of the month, said member Wade McLean.

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“We’re going to interview (the candidates) while they’re in town,” he told the Arizona Daily Star after the finalists were announced Monday. “Then there will be additional background checks completed. I would imagine that within two weeks of their visit to Tucson we’d have a candidate secured for the upcoming year.”

McLean urged community members to attend the forums next week.

“We really believe that the community in Pima Community College is who we are,” he said. “The input we receive from the community will be very important to the board in making the final decision, and we appreciate any and all participation in person or via Zoom.”

Board members have yet to meet either finalist, McLean said. Both were chosen by a search advisory committee and search firm, who read through resumes and conducted initial Zoom interviews with potential candidates.

“The board has not interviewed the two finalists, but we are excited to meet them,” McLean said.

According to her biography on Northeast Lakeview College’s website, Garcia became the college’s president in March 2017. Under her leadership, the college achieved accreditation, the ability to award federal financial aid and veteran benefits and was designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution, it says.

Garcia is an alumna of PCC. She earned an associate degree from the community college before graduating from the University of Arizona with a degree in business administration. She went on to attend Northern Arizona University and Oregon State University for graduate degrees.

Nasse has spent the last 15 years working at Broward College, and has held faculty positions at Florida Atlantic University, Central Maine Community College and East Carolina University.

Before he attended East Carolina University to get his bachelor of science and master’s degrees, Nasse was in the Marine Corps.