By Tim Leeds/Havre Daily News/tleeds@havredailynews.com
For the second time in seven months, Montana State University-Northern Chancellor Alex Capdeville is a finalist for the head position at a different institution.
He is one of four finalists at Bates Technical College in Tacoma, Wash., a 60-year-old school with more than 22,000 students enrolled.
Capdeville could not be reached for comment this morning.
Rolf Groseth, vice president at Montana State University-Bozeman, said today he is not surprised Capdeville is a finalist.
"He's a very capable and marketable guy," Groseth said.
Bates College held interviews and a public forum for Capdeville on Sept. 29. Separate interviews and public forums were held with three other finalists.
Groseth said how MSU will fill Capdeville's position if he is selected depends on the timeline. MSU likely will conduct an internal search, either at Northern or in the four units of Montana State University, to fill an interim chancellor position, he said. MSU would then conduct a nationwide search for a permanent chancellor.
If Capdeville gets a new job, that search would probably begin next fall, with the permanent chancellor starting in the fall of 2006, Groseth said.
The timeline listed on the Bates Technical College Web site says an offer will be made to the finalist selected by Oct. 31. The new president would officially start on Dec. 1.
Donna Haley, vice president for human relations at Bates Technical College, could not be reached for comment this morning.
Capdeville was also a finalist at Sheridan College in Wyoming last summer but was not offered the president's job.
He became interim chancellor at Northern in September 2000 and accepted the position on a permanent basis in May 2001. Capdeville, who received his bachelor's and master's degrees from Northern, was the chief executive officer of the Helena College of Technology for 22 years before returning to Havre to head Northern.
The programs at Bates Technical College include core classes in mathematics, communications and human relations and adult education, including GED courses. Courses are offered in conjunction with apprenticeship programs in fields like meat cutting, automotive technology, carpentry and plumbing.
The college's other programs include business and management training and courses in apparel design, court reporting, database management and electronics.
The other finalists are: Norman Oglesby, president of Tri-County Community College in Murphy, N.C.; David Borofsky, a vice president at Colorado Mountain College in Glenwood Springs, Colo., and John Hurley, a vice president at South Puget Sound Community College in Olympia, Wash.
In a convoluted process at Sheridan College, Capdeville was named a finalist twice. He was originally one of three finalists, but after one finalist was eliminated and another withdrew from consideration, the search was reopened. The search committee selected Kevin Drumm, a vice president at Springfield Technical Community College in Springfield, Mass., as a new finalist and he was given the presidency.
