Colorado Mountain College has already begun their search for a new president and CEO, following the current president’s resignation announcement. 

Last Tuesday, CMC President Carrie Besnette Hauser announced that she would be stepping down from her position in August. Along with the decision comes an emerging process to select the college’s 10^th president. 

“It’s been lovely, and a little overwhelming,” Hauser said about the messages she’s received from community members. “Just really, really lovely notes and calls and outreach, both internal from our faculty and staff and from our community members as well.” 

Hauser is the longest-serving president in Colorado Mountain College history, having completed 10 years in 2023. 

“The tenure of a college president in this day and age is somewhere in the four-to-five-year range average,” Hauser said. “So I feel really lucky to be in a place that’s so strong, that has such good relationships, and (that will) hopefully leave behind an organization that somebody can come in and really hit the ground running.” 

The Colorado Mountain College Board of Trustees, led by Board President Peg Portscheller, met at CMC’s Edwards campus on Friday to discuss the search process for the college’s next president and chief executive officer, according to a CMC news release. 

After some deliberation during the meeting, the board decided that they will first conduct an internal search for qualified candidates within the college. 

“Because Carrie has done such a phenomenal job of building the college’s reputation, recruiting and retaining such amazing people, we’re starting with an internal-only process,” Portscheller explained. “That gives us the luxury of having the opportunity to visit with people from the inside of the organization who may not only have a deep interest in our college, but have … blood, sweat and tears in the institution.” 

The position will open from March 27 to April 5 and will only accept applications from current employees. Once the application closes, the trustees will meet to determine next steps, with a goal of having a new president in the role by the start of the 2024 fall semester in August. 

“We may end up doing an external search, but we didn’t want to do that until we determined the level of interest internally,” she said. 

Trustees on the board can serve a total of two four-year terms, meaning that this will be the first time anyone on the board will participate in selecting a new president for the college. In addition, as is standard for the college, Hauser will not be involved in the board’s hiring process. 

However, that hardly means the board is without direction when it comes to identifying the right person for the job, which is why Portscheller said she’s confident the board will have the tools necessary to make the best decision for the college. 

“Not all that long ago, we approved a new visionary strategic plan,” she said. “Our job as trustees is to make sure that that strategic plan gets moved forward by the next president as he or she moves into that big seat that replaces Dr. Hauser.” 

The community also has a say in who will be filling Hauser’s shoes in August. Portscheller said the board plans to seek input from faculty and leaders in the county later on in the hiring process to ensure the selected candidate is somebody who can truly service the community at large. 

“You’ll find that it’s a very tough time to be a college president,” Portscheller said. “Because of funding, because of polarized politics, because of declining enrollment…” 

It is for this very reason, she explained, that the board is sparing no expense in finding someone who can build on the work Hauser has already done to overcome these challenges. 

“We talked our way through qualifications and attributes desired by the board for the next CEO … When you see that public posting, you’ll say, ‘Oh my God, these people want somebody who wears sandals and walks on water,'” Portscheller laughed. “And yeah, we really do.” 

August is still a ways away, and there’s more work to be done at the college. For now, it’s business as usual for President Hauser; minus, of course, some upcoming community celebrations meant to commemorate Hauser’s legacy at CMC. 

Several foundations, boards, committees, and even contractors have expressed interest in throwing going-away celebrations for Hauser, according to Portscheller. 

“I think she meets with (one group) two or three times a year. Well, now they want to have a big party,” she laughed, citing several examples of people who have reached out to her. 

“I think we’re going to have to be very clever about how we allow everybody who wants to celebrate Carrie to have the opportunity to do that.,” she continued. “But won’t it be fun! And we will have some very nice public events, and certainly among those locations will have to be Glenwood.”