Three Rivers fires president

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. — Three Rivers Community College president Dr. John Cooper was fired during a special board of trustees meeting Tuesday night.

During an executive session, James Grassham offered a motion for Cooper's termination, which was seconded by Bill Hollida. The vote was unanimous.

After that vote, Randy Winston moved that Joe Rozman be named interim president. It was seconded by Marion Tibbs and approved by the board.

Rozman serves as vice president for student affairs and information technology. He will serve as interim president until a new president is hired, as decided by the board. Rozman's salary and term length is to be determined.

At the regularly scheduled meeting last month the board approved chairman Steve Cookson's presidential search committee of 16 community leaders representing a broad spectrum of the Three Rivers' taxing district to search for a new college president. The original plan was to stop accepting applications for the position on July 1, but Cookson said this morning the deadline may need to be extended for a couple of weeks.

Cooper will be placed on administrative leave immediately for 30 days with pay, according to the minutes from the meeting.

He had plans to retire in August of next year.

Cooper has been president of Three Rivers since 1997.

Before that he was president at Suffolk Community College in Selden, N.Y.