<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1i5h4b_1FRWrjB200" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1i5h4b_1FRWrjB200" width="1600" height="1112" ><figcaption>Flathead Valley Community College. Beacon file photo</figcaption></figure>The Flathead Valley Community College board of trustees unanimously selected Dr. Deborah Kish Stephan as its preferred candidate for president Tuesday night, following three rounds of deliberation. Trustees also met for two hours in closed session Friday.“You’ve heard me say that we wanted to be an ‘A’ team looking to hire an ‘A’ candidate,” said board chair Callie Langohr after the deliberations. “And we had that ‘A’ team around the table, and I think we picked an ‘A’ candidate.”Stephan rose to the top of the pool of four finalists in large part because of her experience. She is president of Hillsborough College’s Brandon Campus in Florida and has held vice presidential positions at Northwest Florida State College and at the National Division of Rio Salado College. She has a Juris Doctor in business law from the University of Florida, along with a Doctor of Education degree and a Master of Business Administration.If Stephan accepts the contract after negotiations wrap this week, she will replace longtime FVCC president Jane Karas, who announced her retirement in February.During deliberations, the board narrowed the field of four down to a top two: Stephan and Dr. Daniel R. Czech, the dean of the University of Mississippi’s School of Applied Sciences. The board said both finalists fit all the qualifications listed in FVCC’s presidential profile, but differed in how prepared they were to step into the role immediately. Trustees saw Czech as a potentially transformative long-term leader, but concluded Stephan’s experience translated more naturally to FVCC’s campus and that they needed someone ready on day one. They pointed specifically to her experience overseeing large-scale construction projects and building relationships with legislators.Karas had previously said advocating for changes to the community college funding formula will be one of the new president’s key tasks as the 2027 legislative session approaches.Czech, trustees said, brought a more global perspective. At a community forum where he fielded questions from Flathead citizens, Czech discussed his relationships with Fortune 500 companies and said he would nurture those relationships at FVCC. He also spoke about global exchange programming over the course of the day, trustees said. But trustees took some issue with his lack of community college experience.Stephan, by comparison, offered a more community-focused perspective. Board members praised her account of mobilizing her college to serve the community during a hurricane in Florida, even though the storm didn’t hit her campus. At a community forum last Thursday where Stephan fielded questions from the public, she emphasized her experience listening to stakeholders and trying to help her colleges fit the needs of the communities they were in.“The college is really only as good as we’re serving our community, and people in our community and helping the economic trajectory of our community members,” Stephan said. “This area is growing. I think I read 10% in the last five years, so it’s pretty rapid growth. Housing prices are skyrocketing … So, people need opportunity, and how do we create that opportunity? So, we’ve got to ask questions, and engage the community, and say, ‘what is it that you think we need?’”Stephan said in her campus leadership roles she has led efforts to build a presidential advisory committee to help identify needs, along with community partnerships to help meet them.“Looking back at Dr. Czech’s answers, at one point, he got very passionate about community colleges, even though he hasn’t worked for one. You can tell that he buys conceptually into it without the experience,” said trustee Mary Sterhan. “But he was talking about putting us on the map, right, as a community college, which is, you know, admirable, but I don’t know how that translates with doing the day in, day out part of the job.”“And, you know, again, looking back at the answers to from Dr. Stephan, there are just times when her answers felt very reliable about her work,” Sterhan continued. “They felt very Montana to me.” Kelly Stimpson, one of the trustees on the board’s negotiation committee, said Stephan received a letter of intent Tuesday night. She is primed to receive her contract today, pending her signature on the letter of intent.Negotiations will take place throughout the week. Should Stephan accept the role, the board will take a final vote to appoint her FVCC’s next president at its next meeting. That meeting is slated for Sept. 28 at 4 p.m. in Blake Hall, room 140. It will be open to the public.</div></body>

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The Flathead Valley Community College board of trustees unanimously selected Dr. Deborah Kish Stephan as its preferred candidate for president Tuesday night, following three rounds of deliberation. Trustees also met for two hours in closed session Friday. “You’ve heard me say that we wanted to be an ‘A’ team looking...

FVCC Trustees Pick Deborah Kish Stephan as Next President

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The Flathead Valley Community College board of trustees unanimously selected Dr. Deborah Kish Stephan as its preferred candidate for president Tuesday nigh

FVCC Trustees Pick Deborah Kish Stephan as Next President

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