The College will be welcoming a new member to the community soon. The College is currently looking to fill a new position, that of Vice President of Facilities Management, Construction and Campus Safety. The search has now been narrowed down to three candidates: Mark Kerman, Curt Heuring, and Christopher Moran.
This position has never before existed at the College, and the duties will include those of the retiring Capital Planning Executive, Pete Mills, as well as duties shifted from various other positions.
It's a "reorganization of duties," Nadine Stern, chief Information Officer of Information Technology and chair of the search committee said.
The main tasks included in this position are numerous. The chosen candidate will be overseeing the construction program, which entails the budget, planning guidelines and procedures.
He will be in charge of building and grounds maintenance and coordination among departments and people involved in all the construction on campus.
He will also be president of the Trenton State College Corporation, a non-profit organization responsible for off-campus properties.
Among other things, he will be in charge of overseeing campus safety, which includes Campus Police, and Mail Services will report to him.
This person will also be a member of the president's cabinet and a member of the Board of Trustees.
The search committee itself is comprised of about a dozen members, ranging from a Student Government Association (SGA) representative to a member of the Board of Trustees.
Given all the responsibilities of the position, the committee has a long list of requirements to consider.
According to the employment advertisement, they are seeking someone with a bachelor's degree in engineering, architecture, construction or a related field.
Ten years of experience and an advanced degree are preferred but not required.
Along with these requirements, the candidates must have had knowledge of management, building design, various local and state construction codes and Enviornmental Protection Agency (EPA) codes.
Given these stringent requirements, Stern said, it was doubtful that there would be many responses. However, the College received applications from "as far south as Miami all the way up to New York," Stern added.
The College began its search in April by placing an ad in the Chronicle of Higher Education and other professional journals.
Over 150 applications were received, which is much more than was expected, according to Stern.
Within a few months, the committee eliminated all but 30 of the candidates.
From those 30, seven were chosen for video interviews, which were judged by the committee.
The final three candidates were brought to campus for open forums with students and faculty.
Each candidate's open forum was videotaped and can be viewed in the Roscoe L. West Library.
This is one of the final weeks in what has been a very long process for the committee.
In the coming week, the committee will meet with College President R. Barbara Gitenstein to discuss the candidates' strengths and weaknesses.
With the committee's recommendations she will make a decision on the winning candidate and the College community will have its first Vice President of Facilities Management, Construction and Campus Safety.
