The list of possible candidates to be the next president at Lurleen B. Wallace Community College is down to five, following Monday’s planning meeting of the selection committee.

The committee started the day with 12 applications that had already made it through screening processes in two previous meetings. Monday, the 11 members of the committee received questionnaires, which had been filled out by those 12 candidates. The executive search firm Wheless & Associates of Birmingham administered the questionnaires to the candidates Friday, and their responses to the questions helped the committee further discern how to narrow the list down to five.

Following a review of the questionnaires, the committee members held a vote to determine the five semifinalists. In alphabetical order, they are:

Dr. Patricia K. Adkins, Westerville, Ohio — provost of Columbus State Community College;

Dr. Cornelius Bell, Beaufort, S.C. — associate chancellor of the University of South Carolina-Beaufort;

Dr. Raymond V. Cummiskey, Harrisburg, Ill. — president of Southeastern Illinois College;

Dr. Anne S. McNutt, Hilton Head Island, S.C. — president of Technical College of the Low Country;

Dr. Herbert H.J. Riedel, Pittsburg, Texas — vice president for instruction and student development at Northeast Texas Community College.

Also selected by a separate vote were two alternate semifinalists. They will take the place of any of the original five who either turn down the invitation for an interview, or are unable to continue in the process for any other reason. Those two alternates are:

Dr. Ralph L. Ford, North Plainfield, N.J. — vice president of student services at Union County College;

Dr. Susan E. Karr, Little Rock, Ark. — vice president of instruction at Ouachita Technical College.

The meeting lasted about four hours and Dr. James Mitchell, president of Wallace Community College in Selma, presided as chairman.

“This is a very critical juncture,” Mitchell said at the beginning of Monday’s meeting. “We want to be sure that we have the discussion that needs to take place and be very deliberative in this process. We want to get the very best person for the job.”

On Mon., Oct. 27, the five candidates will participate in a community breakfast at 7:30 a.m. in the conference center on the MacArthur campus.

Mitchell said the candidates’ travel and lodging expenses will be taken care of by LBWCC.

Later Monday, the committee will interview the candidates at the conference center on the Andalusia campus. The one-hour interview sessions will begin at 9 a.m. and are open to the public.

Following the interviews, the committee will select three finalists. Those three will interview with Postsecondary Chancellor Bradley Byrne on Wed., Oct. 29.

Byrne will then make a recommendation to the Board of Education on Tues., Nov. 11. The state board hopes to have a new president in place by Jan. 1.

, 2009.