SCC Board of Trustees Announces Presidential Search Finalist Update

Published: 05/27/2011

"The Board has extended the search timeline into June," said William R. Pundmann, chair of the Presidential Search Committee and president of the SCC Board of Trustees.  "Because the Search Committee started the process early, we feel very comfortable with completing the search in time for a successful transition.  The goal remains to find the candidate who best meets the needs of the college well into the future."

The candidates are: Michael Banks, Ph.D., vice president for academic and student affairs at St. Charles (Mo.) Community College; Cliff Davis, M.A., vice president for institutional advancement and executive director of the OTC Foundation for Ozarks (Mo.) Technical Community College; and a third candidate who has chosen not to release his/her name at this stage in the selection process.  The remaining interviews will be complete by the week of June 6.  Groups interviewing the candidates include students, faculty, staff, administrative officers, the Board of Trustees and local community and business leaders.

The college began a presidential search following the fall 2010 announcement by current president, John M. McGuire, Ph.D., who will retire in September 2011.  The Presidential Search Committee reviewed applications, narrowed 45 candidates to 11 semi-finalists and presented the names to the Board of Trustees at its regular board meeting in April. Following an initial round of finalist interviews, the Board recently reconvened in order to update the list of finalists.  Finalists Joseph Sopcich, Maureen Murphy and Richard Dawe have withdrawn from candidacy.

McGuire became SCC president in 1996 following the retirement of the college's founding president, Donald D. Shook.  The Board of Trustees is charged with selecting the third president in the institution’s 25-year history.

Editor's Note:  Please see brief biographical information on each candidate.

MICHAEL BANKS, Ph.D.
Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs
St. Charles Community College, Cottleville, Mo.

Michael Banks has served as vice president for academic and student affairs and vice president for academic affairs at St. Charles Community College (Mo.) since 2003.  During his tenure, he integrated Academic Affairs and Student Services areas into a unified Office of Academic and Student Affairs; chaired the college-wide Phase 4 Developmental Needs Analysis Steering Committee and served as a member of the executive team overseeing completion of $25 million facilities development project; and chaired the Campus Security Task Force and currently leads the Campus Security Leadership Team.

Banks served as dean/division chair of the Arts and Humanities Division at St. Charles Community College (SCC) from 1994-2003.  Previously to his time at SCC, he served as assistant professor of speech and theatre and director of performing arts at Urbana University (Ohio), and as theatre department chair and assistant professor of theatre and design/technical direction at Xavier University (Ohio).  He has taught full-time and part-time in speech and theatre at Xavier University, Urbana University, Lindenwood University (Mo.) and SCC.

Banks has a doctorate in American studies from St. Louis University, a Master of Fine Arts degree in design and technical theatre from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and a bachelor’s degree in theatre from St. Louis University.

CLIFF DAVIS, M.A.
Vice President for Institutional Advancement and Executive Director of the OTC Foundation
Ozarks Technical Community College, Springfield, Mo.

Cliff Davis has served as the vice president for institutional advancement at Ozarks Technical Community College (Mo.) and executive director of the OTC Foundation since 2004. In that time, the OTC Foundation exceeded a $10 million fund raising goal, enrollment increased by 5,000 students (in the past four years), the college developed a comprehensive plan to retool OTC's development education plan, and participated in a successful Higher Learning Commission Self-Study Report and HLC visit.

Davis previously served as acting vice president for student affairs at OTC, and at Missouri State University he was the assistant to the vice president for student affairs and assistant to the president and director of government relations.  He also served as the vice president of community development and director of Leadership Springfield for the Springfield (Mo.) Area Chamber of Commerce. Davis has served as an adjunct instructor in higher education since 1987 in the areas of communications, marketing and public speaking.

He is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Education with an emphasis in instructional leadership and higher education administration from Lindenwood University.  Davis has a Master of Arts degree in communication management and a bachelor’s degree in business and industrial communications, both from Missouri State University.