For biographical information on the candidates, click on their names as hyperlinks.

March 5–The college decided Tuesday to add three more contenders–including one current and one former administrator–to the race for SBCC’s president seat after one of the two finalists dropped out this week.

The search committee named finalists Dr. Jack Friedlander, executive vice president of Educational Programs at SBCC, and the college’s former top institutional researcher Andreea Serban from South Orange Coast College district. She also was the associate vice president of Informational Technology and Research and Planning while at SBCC.

The committee also chose Blaine Nisson from Umpqua Community College as the third additional finalist.

The decision was made after Carlos Campo, from Southern Nevada Community College, withdrew his name from the race Monday to become the vice president of Academic Affairs at Regent University in Virginia–leaving only one finalist for the Board of Trustees from which to choose.

The original finalist for SBCC’s presidency is remains to be Jack Bermingham from Highline Community College in Washington.

Luis Villegas, trustee and search committee liaison, said the board thought they would initially be given more than two finalists to make a decision. He added that more finalists is more insurance for a committed president for the college.

“They’re candidates…and Santa Barbara may not be the only place that they applied,” Villegas said. “I want to ensure that there’s more than two people, so that this doesn’t happen again.”

The committee is holding an public forum from 12:45- 5:30 p.m. March 12 in the Sports Pavilion. Each of the four finalists will have an hour segment to introduce themselves. The second half of each hour will be open to questions from the audience. Interviews with the board will begin on March 13.