Editor's note: Frank Daniels, president of the Great Basin College chapter of NFA, reported the facts of this story from Ely, Nev.

Great Basin College President Carl Diekhans last week announced his plans to resign in the near future. For more on that, see the Elko Daily Free Press story.

At Sept. 16 and 20 meetings comprised mainly of faculty members, the group reached a consensus as to how we would like the presidential search to proceed. Our senate chair, Sarah Negrete, also obtained information regarding the desire of certain administrators to be president. Members envisioned several different scenarios for its recommendation.

The transition to a new president could take place in a few different ways, including an in-house administrator or faculty member taking over as interim president, or an outsider taking over as interim president while a search is being conducted. The former option appears to be the most likely at this time. Two people from GBC have expressed interest in the interim position, but neither wanted the permanent job. Advantages and disadvantages of both options have been debated at meetings.

Chair Negrete asked about the search process. This is how we expect it to work:
1. The college would hire an outside agency to oversee the application process, so that applications would remain confidential through the early part of the screening process.
2. As specified by the Board of Regents Handbook, the presidential search committee will contain five members nominated by the faculty senate. The senate will probably make this selection within a week or so. If the chair adds members to the committee – which the process allows, then the senate will request that an equal number of faculty members be added likewise. This item will be discussed in followup meetings on Tuesday.