GADSDEN — Four employees of Gadsden State Community College are among the 12 applicants selected for further review by the committee named to help find a successor to Gadsden State Community College President W. Darryl Harrison, who vacated the position in October 2010. 

More than 45 people from across the nation applied for the job and the committee has completed the first selection phase. They will meet again Friday to reduce the number to five semi-finalists. 

Among those still in contention from Gadsden State are Susan W. Brown, assistant to the dean of instructional services and division chair of mathematics and engineering; Martha G. Lavender, assistant to the president-Gadsden State Cherokee and Health Sciences; James R. Prucnal, dean of financial and administrative services and Valerie A. Richardson, vice president for institutional advancement and student services.

Other applicants include Sylvia M. Burgess, associate vice president for academic affairs and director of adult and continuing education, Southwest Oklahoma Area Health Education Center; Phillip Charles Cleveland, interim president of Chattahoochee Valley Community College, Phenix City; Ralph Lee Ford, vice president of student services, Union County College, Cranford, N.J.; Lynn C. Kreider, president, Colby Community College; Dorothy A. Latuszek, provost vice president for academic affairs, Gateway Community and Technical College, Covington, Ky.; Raymond William Staats, chief academic officer, John Wood Community College, retired Air Force Officer; Marlene A. Tignor, acting president of Laramie County Community College, Cheyenne, Wyo.; and Suresh Chandra Tiwari, vice president for academic and student affairs, Central Lakes College, Baxter, Minn. 

The five selected on March 18 will be introduced April 13 at a community reception at 5:30 p.m. in the Inzer Cafeteria on the Wallace Drive Campus of Gadsden State.