Four finalists have been selected for consideration to become the eighth president of Northland Pioneer College. Dr. James Dire, Dr. Gerald Giraud, Dr. Randy Smith and Mark Vest will be meeting with community members, college staff and members of the Navajo County Community College District Governing Board from 3 to 5 p.m. on Feb. 5, 6, 7 and 8, at the Northland Pioneer College Tiponi Community Center Board Room, located at 2251 Navajo Blvd. in Holbrook.
Dr. James Dire
Dr. James Dire has served in higher education for more than 30 years. In addition to 20 years teaching science and engineering, Dr. Dire has served in multiple leadership roles. He spent three years as chair of the physics department and another three years as the assistant dean of academics at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy; five years as associate provost at Gardner-Webb University; and he has been the vice chancellor for Academic Affairs at University of Hawai’i – Kaua’i Community College (UHCC) since 2010. His accomplishments at Kaua’i Community College include the development of new associate’s degree programs in agriculture, business administration, creative media arts, engineering, Hawaiian studies and natural sciences; and certificate programs in community health worker, medical assisting, geographic information systems, green automotive technologies, renewal and sustainable energy technologies, school health aid and sustainability science. Dr. Dire’s service as principal investigator on federal grants includes rounds one, two and four of U.S. Department of Labor’s Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training grants, and two National Science Foundation tribal colleges and universities program grants totaling approximately $10 million. Dr. Dire is also the Hawaii state representative for the Western Alliance of Community College Academic Leaders. Dr. Dire serves on the UHCC Student Success Council, the UH Early College Council, the UH Distance Learning Committee developing a statewide online AA degree, the John Burns School of Medicine Biomedical Research Steering Committee, the UH Council of Chief Academic Officers and the UHCC Academic Affairs Administrators Council. His accomplishments under the area of integrated student success include the first (and still only) UH campus to publish multi-semester schedules of classes, the first UH campus to develop and implement guided pathways for all academic programs and the first UH campus to create and enact a comprehensive prior learning assessment program. He has developed the most robust early college program in Hawaii. In the spring of 2018, 20 percent of his college’s students were dual credit high school student. Dire earned a bachelor’s degree in physics and mathematics and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, both from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He also earned a Master of Science degree in physics and electrical engineering from the University of Central Florida. In addition, he holds a Master of Arts degree in meteorology and a Ph.D in earth and planetary sciences from the Johns Hopkins University. While a full time faculty member, Dr. Dire also coached National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III volleyball and taught leadership, racquetball and sailing.
Dr. Gerald Giraud
Dr. Gerald Giraud is vice president for academic affairs at Northwest College, a community college located in Powell, Wyo. Prior to his current position, he was vice president for instruction at Oglala Lakota College from 2004-2012 and before that an associate professor at Nebraska Methodist College in Omaha, Neb., where he was involved in nursing education at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Dr. Giraud has served as a consultant for K-12 education at the state and local level and is a peer evaluator for the Higher Learning Commission. He has a bachelor’s degree in psychology, sociology and political science from Regents College of the State University of New York, a master’s degree in educational psychology, and a doctorate in cultural and psychological studies from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Dr. Randy Smith
Dr. Randy Smith is an enrolled member of the Choctaw Tribe of Oklahoma. He has been involved in higher education for over 23 years. Currently, he serves as the president of the largest organization of rural colleges in the United States, the Rural Community College Alliance. He also serves as president and CEO of Sisseton Wahpeton College in Sisseton, S.D., a comprehensive community college. His research interests include leadership in higher education and recruitment and retention of students at rural colleges. Smith is a regular presenter at state and national conferences on the topics of leadership in higher education, student recruitment and retention at two-year colleges, and workforce and economic development in rural communities. He has testified in front of committees of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate as an expert on issues regarding community colleges. He was an invited participant to the White House Summit on Community Colleges. He served as a member of the 21st Century Community College Commission that was charged with developing a long-term strategic plan for community colleges nationally. He also facilitated the first ever memorandum of understanding between a higher education organization and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Smith facilitated the inclusion of rural community, technical and tribal colleges in the 2014 Farm Bill, the first time rural colleges have been specifically included in federal legislation. He is already working on the language to be included in the 2019 Farm Bill. Smith received a three-year appointment from the Obama Administration to the America’s College Promise Advisory Board. His true passion is helping colleges retain students to completion and he has developed training programs to assist colleges in all aspects of enrollment management. This includes a special program assisting colleges with Native American male student retention. Smith also developed a board training program entitled Roles and Responsibilities for Boards of Trustees and teaches this program across the nation. Smith recently helped a rural district in Pennsylvania begin a new college by testifying in front of the Pennsylvania Legislature, writing their operational plan, and completing an on-the-ground study including academic and technical program recommendations and needs. Smith enjoys helping graduate students do research on community colleges and enrollment management and leadership. He serves on the program advisory committee for the Mississippi State University Ph.D. program in community college leadership and the University of Texas program advisory committee for the program in higher education leadership. Smith enjoys serving in the community and has held several positions including board chairman for a rural county hospital district, volunteer fire fighter and paramedic, member of a municipal police commission, boy scout troop committee chairman and board member for a Regional Chapter of the American Red Cross. He is a certified law enforcement officer and is an active reserve deputy sheriff in Oklahoma donating several shifts a month to the department. Smith served as a judge for the Miss Rodeo America Pageant in Las Vegas and he currently coaches rodeo queens and contestants from across the nation. His daughter Emily was a 2014 Miss Rodeo Oklahoma State titleholder. Smith holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science, a Master of Science degree in emergency health services administration, and a Ph.D. in higher education leadership. He also completed the Educators’ Leadership Academy at the University of Central Oklahoma. He is a recipient of the USDA Lincoln Honor Award, the highest award presented by the US Department of Agriculture. He is married to Tricia, a native of the Pinetop/Lakeside area, who is a music teacher for the Holdenville, Okla., public schools. The family operates a cow/calf operation near Holdenville, Oklahoma. Smith enjoys rodeo, ranching, working with horses, playing and coaching basketball, working as a law enforcement officer and all outdoor activities.
Mark Vest
Mark Vest is a fervent advocate for student success and educational opportunity who has devoted his entire career to postsecondary education. Hired as the advising coordinator at Northland Pioneer College in 2001, Vest currently serves as the vice president for Learning and Student Services at the college. He was appointed dean of students at NPC in 2003, promoted to vice president for student services in 2005, and also took on responsibility for all instruction at the college in 2008. Vest leads strategic planning at NPC and also chairs the enrollment management team, coordinates all student support activities, and has spearheaded efforts to create stronger partnerships with area high schools and agencies. He participates in state and local committees and has worked at many levels within the institution, including the role of acting president in 2007. Vest has maintained his contact with classroom education, serving as part-time history faculty since 2002. Under Vest’s leadership, NPC has dramatically increased the number of students completing certificates and degrees, despite a statewide decline in community college enrollment. He has developed multiple federal and state grant opportunities for NPC, worked to create significant improvements in the college’s distance learning technology, and championed efforts to provide college instruction for area high school students. Vest is passionate about the need to provide educational access and opportunities to all residents of NPC’s service area. To meet these goals, he has overseen development of new scholarships, course and program options, Kids College, math and science opportunities, and unique partnerships. Vest has a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Kentucky, where he was the university’s Rhodes Scholar nominee, Truman Scholarship nominee and a Gaines Humanities Fellow. He holds a master’s degree in American history from the University of Kentucky, a master’s degree in higher education leadership and student affairs from Ohio State University, and additional graduate work from Ohio State in diplomatic and military history. Vest and his wife Susan moved to Pinetop in 2000 after Susan accepted a physician appointment with Indian Health Services in Whiteriver. They chose to make Navajo County their home and have raised two daughters in Pinetop, both of whom attend the Blue Ridge Unified School District.
