Board of Regents meets May 25 to consider appointing presidents of Cleveland State Community College & TCAT Elizabethton & TBR vice chancellor of business and finance

The Tennessee Board of Regents will hold a special called meeting May 25 to receive and likely act on the chancellor’s recommendations for the next presidents of Cleveland State Community College and the Tennessee College of Applied Technology Elizabethton, and the board’s next vice chancellor of business and finance.

The meeting is scheduled to convene at 12:30 p.m. CT/1:30 p.m. ET, Wednesday, May 25, 2022. It will be held virtually by Microsoft Teams teleconferencing, and will be live-streamed and archived on the TBR website at https://www.tbr.edu/board/may-25-2022-special-called-board-meeting. Meeting materials are posted at the same link. Anyone needing direct access to the Teams meeting may contact Board Secretary Mariah Perry by 4 p.m. CT May 24 at mariah.perry@tbr.edu or 615.366.3927.

The Board of Regents appoints presidents of all the community and technical colleges in the system that it governs, as well as system-level senior staff. TBR Chancellor Flora W. Tydings is recommending candidates for each position of the three positions, following months-long search processes. Search committees selected finalists for each position. For the college presidencies, public forums with the finalists were held on campus. The chancellor conducted further interviews with the finalists and reviewed public and campus input in making her recommendations to the board.

Dr. Tydings announced earlier this month her recommendations for the two presidencies:

• Dr. Ty A. Stone as the next president of Cleveland State Community College. She is currently president of Jefferson Community College in Watertown, NY. If appointed by the Board, she will succeed Dr. Bill Seymour, who is retiring this summer after leading Cleveland State for 8½ years and more than 43 years in higher education.

• Dr. David J. Hicks as the next president of TCAT Elizabethton. He is currently superintendent of Bremen City Schools in Bremen, GA, and if appointed by the Board, will succeed Dean Blevins, who is retiring this summer after leading TCAT Elizabethton for 13 years and 35 years in career and technical education.

The chancellor is also recommending the appointment of Dr. Alisha Fox as the system’s vice chancellor of business and finance. Dr. Fox is currently vice president for finance and chief operating officer at Cleveland State Community College, after advancing through several business and finance positions there. If approved by the Board, she will succeed Danny Gibbs, who is retiring this summer after 39 years of service to the state and TBR system.