The six finalists vying to become the next president of St. Charles Community College include two candidates with ties to the St. Louis area.

The college released the finalists' names Saturday. They were scheduled to visit the campus between Aug. 22 and 26 for interviews with students, faculty, staff, administrative officers, the Board of Trustees and community and business leaders.

The candidates are Drew A. Bennett, chancellor of the Missouri State University campus in West Plains; Ronald Chesbrough, vice president for student affairs at Hastings (Neb.) College; Michael L. Dreith, president of Western Texas College; Dorothy J. Duran, vice president of academic affairs at Iowa Western Community College; Steven M. Gates, senior vice president for learning and provost at Northwest Arkansas Community College; and Joseph Hartnett, department chairman of business and computer science and professor of business administration at St. Charles Community College.

The release gave no indication as to when trustees will make a decision after the interviews are completed.

Dreith is a former associate dean and assistant professor at Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey, Ill., and has a master's degree from Webster University. Harnett has a bachelor's degree from St. Louis University and a master's from the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Trustees selected the finalists Aug. 15 from a list of 10 applicants recommended by a presidential search committee. The college received 40 applications after deciding in June to restart the search process after previously interviewing two sets of finalists.

The search began earlier this year after SCC President John McGuire announced he would retire. McGuire originally planned to retire in September but is staying on temporarily.