By Moneth G. Deposa
Variety News Staff

THE board of regents yesterday disclosed the names of the final two candidates for Northern Marianas College’s presidency who are both expected to appear today on campus to meet with the students and the faculty.
In an e-mail to the NMC community, the board is inviting everyone to meet the two off-island candidates — former Guam Sen. Carmen Cruz Fernandez and Dr. Cecilia Lizama Salvatore of Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas.
The board has scheduled a one-hour meeting for Fernandez at 9 a.m. today at the student center in Bldg. J. The meeting with Salvatore will start at 2 p.m. at the same venue.
The NMC community was asked to check the candidates’ qualifications.
In an interview yesterday, Mark Mendiola, special assistant to the board of regents, said the meeting with the two candidates will allow the college community to meet the “soon-to-be chief executive of the college and directly inquire about anything that may involve management styles, accreditation, experiences, and college operations.”
He added, “The intention of the board is to get the community’s output on this very important issue which is the hiring of the president. And this move was adopted by the body in their meeting and this was also done on the first two contenders.”
After the candidates’ meeting with the NMC community, the board will conduct a final interview.
“The board’s decision will be made once the final interview is completed and after they convene in the next meeting,” Mendiola said.
The position of NMC president has been vacant for almost eight months since the retirement of Antonio Deleon Guerrero in August last year.
The board earlier tasked a presidential committee to search the qualified candidates.
The committee chose the final two from a pool of 11 applicants, most of whom were from off-island.
The final two were Sharon Hart from North Dakota and Richard Carhart from Alabama, but the board decided to look into the applications of the other candidates, which include Fernandez and Salvatore.