By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
The Barton Community College Board of Trustees were publicly notified Tuesday that a search committee’s efforts to name a new president of the college have been accelerated. In September, Dr. Carl Heilman announced his retirement plans at the end of the 2023-2024 school year.
The college accepted applicants until Nov. 10 and the committee has privately examined candidates. Trustees Board Chairman Mike Johnson said the committee will make their first cut next week.
"I'm excited to get to that point," said Johnson. "We have accelerated the timeline just a bit. We'd like to have our finalists named before the end of the year, primarily because of competition from other president spots that opened up recently. I'm just fearful of losing applicants."
Johnson said the committee is shaving roughly 30 days from their timeline of having the finalists named. The finalists will still come on campus for visits after the first of the year.
Heilman was named the fifth president at Barton in July 2006. His final day with the college will be June 30, 2024.