Before the new president of Iowa Central Community College was named earlier this month, college faculty were informed that there would be public forums and an opportunity to meet with finalists for the position.

But those public forums never happened, according to Dawn Humburg, who has a doctorate in philosophy, a 20-plus year faculty member of the college and professor of accounting.

And Humburg said a majority of faculty is disappointed with how the hiring process was handled by the Iowa Central Board of Directors.

“We were told at least twice via letters from the board president that there were going to be open forums,” Humburg said. “So this would follow suit with prior hires that have been made. We as faculty and staff who work here, who are passionate about what we do every day, did not have the opportunity to take any form of ownership in that decision.”

Mark Crimmins serves as the president of the Iowa Central Board of Directors. It’s the third time Crimmins has been part of the hiring process of an Iowa Central president. The president of the college is the only position that the board is responsible for hiring.

Current superintendent of the Fort Dodge Community School District Jesse Ulrich was chosen as the next Iowa Central president. The announcement was made on April 1. The board and a search committee made up of 10 representatives from 10 different areas of the college took part in the hiring process.

“It hurts to think that some think we shortcutted when we picked Ulrich,” Crimmins said. “We really believe he’s the best fit for Iowa Central.”

Weeks before Ulrich was announced as the pick, letters were sent out notifying faculty of the plans for a public forum.

In a letter to college faculty and staff on Feb. 11, Crimmins wrote that once the applications were reviewed and narrowed down, there would be public forums.

There were 37 applicants for the position, said Crimmins. Those were eventually narrowed down to five finalists.

In a March 16 letter, Crimmins reported that the finalists from the first round would be invited to participate in activities that would include continued interview sessions, open forums and campus tours. Employees were told they would be notified of those opportunities.

But Humburg said the process came and went with no public forums and no opportunities to meet the candidates. She said faculty did not know who the finalists were.

Crimmins said there were confidentiality agreements in place for the five finalists, meaning the board could not initially reveal who those candidates were.

“If the public forums would have happened, it would have been when it was narrowed down to two people,” Crimmins said. “It was never discussed for the five candidates.”

Then in April, the board announced its decision to hire Ulrich.

“If they were waiting for the forums — sorry about that,” Crimmins said. “But there were other opportunities to participate.”

Crimmins said in a letter to faculty and staff that the decision was made based upon resumes, survey results and interviews.

“It wasn’t close,” Crimmins said. “And my board members felt the same way.”

The survey was posted publicly on the college website. It received 229 responses, 171 of which were from college employees.

Crimmins said emails were sent out to all staff encouraging them to take the survey, which he said was extensive.

“We emailed all of our staff and said please get online and complete the survey,” he said.

Humburg liked the idea of a public survey, but said faculty still should have had an opportunity to meet the candidates.

“The survey is wonderful,” she said. “But once the candidates have been selected, in times past we have always had the opportunity, as has the community, to come in and meet these people and just ask them any questions at all about the president position.”

Crimmins said he thought the survey was the best way to include all faculty.

“I understand the desire for input from faculty and staff and we tried our hardest to give them the opportunity to give feedback on the survey,” he said. “That was used throughout the entire process up through the interviews. When you have that many employees, there’s never going to be a consensus on who’s going to be hired.”

Humburg said there has been concerns voiced from both faculty and community members about the process.

“This is a very important decision for our college and community,” Humburg said.

She described the process as “a disappointment to the faculty, staff and community.”

Crimmins said the search committee and the board separately picked their top five choices. The two lists were identical, he said.

According to Crimmins, the public forums would have caused an unnecessary delay for other institutions like the Fort Dodge Community School District, which would need to start its own process for replacing Ulrich.

“In short, the public forums were going to unnecessarily delay the process and delay other institutions,” Crimmins said. “All nine of those (Iowa Central) board members take it very seriously and it was not close in terms of who they thought was the best fit to lead the college. This will end up being an extremely popular decision.”

The Iowa Central board will meet on Tuesday to approve Ulrich’s contract. Crimmins said Ulrich will be available to meet with all faculty and staff that night.