Jeff Allbritten on interest for Edison State Colle...: Macon State College President Jeff Allbritten, a finalist for the Edison State College presidency, speaks about his interest in the job Thursday, May 31, 2012.
Edison State College presidential finalist Joseph Sarnovsky speaks Wednesday at a public forum at the campus in south Fort Myers. / Andrew West/news-press.com
Jeff Allbritten, a finalist for the Edison State College presidency, speaks to Edison faculty and community members at a public forum Friday morning / Chris Umpierre/news-press.com
Joseph Sarnovsky
• Residence: Sanford
• Age: 57
• Family: wife, Jane; sons Joe Sarnovsky and Jesse Sarnovsky
• Employer: Seminole State College
• Job title: Executive vice president and chief financial officer
• Tenure: 2011-present
• Salary: $185,000, plus $6,000 in allowances
• 2002-11: Vice president for administrative services at Seminole State College
• 2009: Interim president at Seminole State College
• 1997-2002: Vice president for administrative services at Lorain County Community College
• 1988-97: Controller at Lorain County Community College
• 1978-88: Plant supervisor and accounting supervisor at Lorain Products
• 2012: Doctorate in educational leadership from University of Phoenix
• 1985: Master’s in business administration from Baldwin-Wallace College
• 1983: Bachelor’s in business administration from Cleveland State University
• 1975: Associate in business administration from Lorain County Community College
Eugene Giovannini
• Residence: Gilbert, Ariz.
• Age: 55
• Family: Wife, three college-age children
• Employer: GateWay Community College
• Job title: President
• Tenure: 2002-present
• Salary: $198,729 annual salary, plus $1,176 annual cellphone allowance, $10,200 annual car allowance and a $3,300 annual allowance for other expenses.
• 1995-present: Adjunct faculty at Northern Arizona University
• 1995-2002: Vice president of Burlington County College
• 1990-95: Dean of instructional affairs and interim director of student services at Ivy Tech Community College-Southwest
• 1987-90: Assistant to the coordinator of graduate studies at Virginia Tech
• 1985-87: Chair of the department of office technologies at Broome Community College
• 1983-85: Instructor at Eastern Shore Community College
• 1982-83: Business education teacher at Mynderse Academy
• 1981-82: Business education teacher at Waterloo Senior High School
• Doctorate in community college education from Virginia Tech
• 1981: Master’s in business education from Bloomsburg University
• 1979: Bachelor’s in business education from Bloomsburg University
What's next
• TODAY: The Edison State College presidential finalists will host public forums at each of Edison’s campuses. At the Lee campus: Jeffrey Allbritten will host a public forum from 10-11:30 a.m., Eugene Giovannini from 2-3:30 p.m. At the Charlotte campus, Giovannini will answer questions from 10-11:30 a.m., Allbritten from 2-3:30 p.m. At the Collier campus, Joseph Sarnovsky will host a forum from 10-11:30 a.m. At the Hendry/Glades center, Sarnovsky will answer questions from 4-5:30 p.m.
• FRIDAY: Edison’s district board of trustees will interview the candidates during a special 8 a.m. meeting on the Lee campus. The trustees would like to select a president by the end of the day.
More
After answering 90 minutes of questions from Edison State College faculty and staff members Wednesday, Joseph Sarnovsky, a finalist to be the school’s president, was asked if he’d like to stay and shake hands with the attendees.
“I’d like to stay here for the next 15 years,” Sarnovsky said with a grin.
Edison’s board of trustees will make that decision Friday, when, for the first time since 1991, it selects a president. Until then, the finalists will be hosting forums at Edison’s four campuses to give the public a chance to know them. On Wednesday, Sarnovsky, the executive vice president at Seminole State College in Florida, and Eugene Giovannini, president of GateWay Community College in Arizona, met the Southwest Florida community for the first time.
The third finalist — Jeffery Allbritten, the president of Macon State College in Georgia — held the first public forum Tuesday on the Collier campus and continued answering questions from the public Wednesday.
“My strengths are my experience, my knowledge of the Florida system and my integrity,” said Sarnovsky, who has been an administrator at Seminole State College since 2002. “When I came to Seminole, they were going through an accreditation. My job for the last 10 years was to help the school grow. Edison is at the point where it needs that type of experience.”
Edison, a 50-year-old institution with 25,000 students, is looking for a change after a series of academic and operational problems surfaced under former president Kenneth Walker’s leadership. Walker ran the college for 21 years before being fired in January.
Edison’s next president will be in charge of dealing with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accreditation. SACS, headquartered near Atlanta, grants accreditation to institutions that comply with a set of mutually agreed-upon standards. Edison is up for reaccreditation this year.
“You can’t shy away from that,” Sarnovsky said. “This is the time for a strong leader.”
The two other finalists have served as college presidents for eight and 10 years. Sarnovsky held the title of interim president for a short while in 2009. The others started their careers in the classroom, while Sarnovsky began his inside a manufacturing plant.
Andrea Posner, who works in Edison’s online department, said she wondered if Sarnovsky’s business background would lead to a business, rather than academic, approach to running a college.
“At first I thought he would be more biased to the business side, but the more I heard from him today the more I thought it could be a great asset,” Posner said. “He’s worked in the private industry. So he’ll know how to get the school its respective money from the state.”
Sarnovsky said he would try to expand Edison’s online program. He is the only finalist to have completed an online doctorate degree. Sarnovsky said online schooling provides the flexibility students are mandating in today’s iPhone world.
Giovannini also talked about retaining more Edison students and employees in a forum at Edison’s Hendry/Glades center. In his 10 years as president of GateWay Community College, Giovannini grew the school’s signature health care programs and created a new Center for Entrepreneurial Innovation, an “incubator” that will provide both space and support for about 30 emerging companies.
“One thing we need to keep in mind is to look at life through the students’ eyes,” Giovannini said. “Students look at college experiences differently than we do as employees. And when you look through students’ eyes, I will be frank with you, students look at college like every other commodity. They’re looking for convenience.”
Giovannini said he would want to create more partnerships between Edison and FGCU.
“There are opportunities there for leveraging,” Giovannini said. “Perhaps we can look into letting our students transfer there. Maybe we can take advantage of their human resources. I look at it as a value partner.”
