Finalists selected for presidency at Chattanooga State Community College

Four finalists have been selected in the search for the next president of Chattanooga State Community College. All four will participate in campus visits and forums April 19 through April 25, the next step in the selection process.

The finalists are:

•       Dr. Rebecca Ashford, vice president of student affairs, Pellissippi State Community College, Knoxville.
•       Dr. Pamela Haney, provost, vice president for academic affairs, Moraine Valley Community College, Palos Hill, Ill.
•       Dr. Tyjaun A. Lee, vice president for student affairs, Prince George’s Community College, Largo, Md.
•       Dr. Kirk Nooks, president, Metropolitan Community College – Longview, Lee’s Summit, Mo.

The finalists’ curricula vitae are available for review on the Presidential/Executive Searches section of the Tennessee Board of Regents website at https://www.tbr.edu/hr/executivesearches/president-chattanooga-state-com....

Each candidate will spend a day on the Chattanooga campus participating in meetings and open forums for various constituent groups, including faculty, staff, students, alumni and community. Dr. Ashford will visit April 19; Dr. Haney April 20; Dr. Nooks April 21 and Dr. Lee April 25. The open forums will be held on each visit day from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. ET in the Humanities Auditorium on campus. The forums will also be live-streamed online via links that will be available on the presidential search website above.

Tennessee law sets out the process used in the selection of presidents and chancellors for the Tennessee Board of Regents and University of Tennessee systems. The Tennessee Board of Regents approved the Chattanooga State search criteria during a special meeting on Jan. 27 and appointed the 21 members of the ChSCC Presidential Search Advisory Committee. The committee's charge was to identify and interview candidates and then narrow the applicant pool to three to five finalists.

Comprised of four members of the Board of Regents and 17 representatives of faculty, staff, students, alumni and the community at large, the committee held its first meeting and open forum Feb. 10 on campus. Regent Tom Griscom of Chattanooga chaired the committee; other board members who served were Howard Roddy and Thomas A. H. White, both of Chattanooga, and Danni Varlan of Knoxville.

After the campus visits, TBR Chancellor Flora W. Tydings will gather feedback from committee members, the forums and meetings to select one candidate for nomination to the Board of Regents for its approval.

The search committee worked with executive search firm Greenwood/Asher & Associates to help identify a broad range of highly qualified candidates from around the country. The process resulted in 63 applicants.

The next president will succeed Dr. Tydings, who was Chattanooga State’s president until she assumed her new role as chancellor of the Board of Regents on Feb. 1. Debbie Adams, Chattanooga State’s vice president of student affairs and workforce development, was named interim president until the campus’s next leader is appointed and in office -- by July 1 under the board’s timeline.

Chattanooga State Community College is a comprehensive, public two-year postsecondary institution whose primary service area includes six counties in Southeast Tennessee. It has over 8,500 credit students and over 700 non-credit students. The college employs approximately 640 full-time employees, including 238 full-time faculty members, and operates on a budget of $95 million.