A six-month search for Barton Community College’s next executive director of institutional advancement ended Thursday when the board of trustees hired Nancy Wiebe of Wichita.
Three other new employees, including an assistant men’s basketball coach, were hired at a special meeting called for that purpose.
Barton President Dr. Carl Heilman said it was challenging to fill some of the positions. The college contracted with a search firm out of Wichita to find more applicants for the director of institutional advancement. Among other duties, the director oversees the Barton Community College Foundation.
Wiebe has worked for a number of years in fundraising and grant development, Heilman said. She is the former executive director of Delta Dental of Kansas Foundation; before that, she was the grant development manager for EmberHope Inc., and before that she was director of allocation for United Way of the Plains in Wichita.
Rob Dove from the BCC Foundation has been acting as interim director since the retirement of Darnell Holopirek at the end of 2014. He noted that Holopirek will also spend some time introducing Wiebe to her new job and to the community.
Dennan Morrow was hired as the assistant men’s basketball coach. He is a graduate of Larned High School and played collegiate basketball at Barton and at Southwestern College. For the last four years he has been a student manager and then a graduate student manager for the Kansas State men’s basketball team under the leadership of head coaches Frank Martin and Bruce Weber.
Mark Hunt was hired as a mechanical system tech for the Barton County campus, and Kelli Lindsay was hired as an academic adviser at the Fort Riley campus.
The special meeting was held in conjunction with the board’s June study session. The board had trouble making a quorum, with trustees Don Larned and Brett Middleton unable to attend. Board Chairman Mike Johnson was joined by trustees John Moshier and Leonard Bunselmeyer; trustee Mike Minton completed the quorum by long distance via a telephone connection.
Pool agreement signed
Chairman Johnson also signed the memorandum of understanding between the college and Great Bend Unified School District 428, in relation to BCC’s indoor swimming pool. The school board approved the MOU last Monday, agreeing to pay $10,000 a year for the next 12 years if the college agrees to maintain the pool and allow USD 428’s swim teams to continue to use the facility. College trustees approved the agreement last month.
Johnson asked BCC Dean of Administration Mark Dean when to expect repairs to the pool, but Dean said there was no time table at this time. “I talked to one of the contractors,” Dean said. “He can’t start until September.” It will be difficult to schedule a time when the pool is not needed.
It was also noted that major fundraising efforts have been going on in the community on behalf of youth swimming programs. “We’re early on in that process,” Johnson said. “It’s been very positive.”
The Golden Belt Community Foundation is overseeing a new endowed fund for that purpose. A group of community members has already pledged $100,000 if that amount is matched by other gifts, according to GBCF Director Christy Tustin. More information about the fund will be published in Sunday’s Great Bend Tribune.
