MARIETTA — Southern Polytechnic State University President and Cobb Chamber of Commerce Chairwoman Dr. Lisa Rossbacher has been selected one of five finalists for the presidency at New Mexico State University.

“Who knows how this will work out,” she told the Journal Monday night. “It’s very difficult thinking about leaving the Marietta, Cobb County community because it continues to be a good experience here. I hate the thought of leaving.”

The finalists will be at NMSU throughout this month for interviews, according to the university. Rossbacher said she will be there at the end of this week. A final decision by the university’s board of regents is expected Nov. 19. Rossbacher said NMSU officials would like to have a president start in January, but “that’s negotiable.”

If she does land the presidency, there are a number of things that are attractive for her out West — notably the geography and geology of New Mexico, said Rossbacher, who earned her Ph.D. in geological and geophysical sciences at Princeton University. Rossbacher has worked for a geothermal exploration company, the U.S. Geological Survey and NASA.

Also, NMSU “is a research university, and the only research university that is classified as a Hispanic-serving institution,” she said. “So there’s great diversity there. They also have a very interesting structure at NMSU.”

NMSU is comprised of five campuses, the largest in Las Cruces, as well as a satellite center in Albuquerque, 13 research and science centers, and cooperative extension offices in each of New Mexico’s 33 counties, according to the university. As a land-grant university, Rossbacher said, there is a focus on agriculture and engineering, supporting local farmers and agricultural interests.

Being president of NMSU gives Rossbacher “the opportunity to have a statewide reach,” she said.

Fall 2008 enrollment for the NMSU system was 31,316, according to the University’s Web site, compared to the University of New Mexico’s fall ’08 enrollment of 32,732.

That’s a big leap from the record-breaking fall 2009 enrollment of roughly 5,100 at Marietta’s SPSU.

However, Rossbacher, who is in her 12th year as head of the local university, is prepared. There were 18,000 students at her first administration position at California State Polytechnic University, she said, and she spent four months as interim executive vice president and chief academic officer for the University System of Georgia with a total enrollment of 260,000.

Rossbacher said NMSU’s president search firm, Greenwood/Asher and Associates Inc., contacted her in early August about the top post.

“The fact I’m being considered there is because of the hard work everyone’s done at Southern Poly in the last 11 years…to move that university forward,” Rossbacher said.

“(SPSU) has never been in as good of shape as it is now,” she said. “It’s been amazing.”

Rossbacher is the 2009 chairwoman for the Cobb Chamber of Commerce. She is also active in the Marietta Kiwanis and a board member of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. Her husband, Dr. Dallas D. Rhodes, chairs the Georgia Southern University’s department of geology and geography.

As for her chances landing the presidency in New Mexico, Rossbacher said, “All of the finalists clearly have strong academic credentials.”

Del Archuleta, chair of NMSU’s president search advisory committee, said Rossbacher, as well as the other four finalists, are all well qualified for the job.

“I challenged our committee with the task of presenting the five most qualified candidates who they felt were the best fit for NMSU,” Archuleta said in a report from the university. “I believe the committee has successfully accomplished that goal.”

The committee and the university’s search firm narrowed the finalists after making about 420 contacts, reviewing information on roughly 60 people and interviewing 18 candidates, according to NMSU.

“These five were chosen for their executive-level experience at large, complex universities and their exceptional accomplishments in higher education,” Archuleta said.

The other four finalists for president of NMSU are: Barbara Couture, D.A., senior vice chancellor for academic affairs and professor of English, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Richard Herman, Ph.D., special assistant to the president, professor, recently chancellor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; James Oblinger, Ph.D., professor, recently chancellor, North Carolina State University; and Michael Ortiz, Ph.D., president, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.