TBR Chancellor Recommends Flora Tydings as Chattanooga State’s Next President

Flora Tydings is expected to be named the next president to lead Chattanooga State Community College pending approval by the Tennessee Board of Regents at a special called meeting on May 27.

The Board will meet at 9:30 a.m. CDT at the TBR System Office in Nashville. Included on the agenda is TBR Chancellor John Morgan’s recommendation for Tydings to replace Interim President Fannie Hewlett, who agreed to serve a temporary appointment after Jim Catanzaro retired as president of the college in December.

Tydings is currently the president of Athens Technical College, a multi-campus, two-year institution serving a 10-county region of Northeast Georgia.  She will join Chattanooga State on July 13.

“President Tydings has the critical experience leading an institution with a similar mission to Chattanooga State,” said Morgan. “She has demonstrated a clear understanding of the important role community colleges play in providing both career training for workforce development and helping students prepare for transfer to a university. Her leadership style will provide a stabilizing influence for the campus while motivating its faculty and staff to continue moving forward with innovative programs.” 

In her 12-year tenure as president of Athens Tech, Tydings has overseen a dramatic growth in enrollment and expansion of degree offerings, particularly in programs related to workforce development needs of the region. She has helped raise more than $30 million in private gifts and public grants for the institution, and significantly increased efforts to support student success, faculty development and use of innovative technology.

Tydings also provided interim leadership at two other colleges in the Technical College System of Georgia after the departure of presidents at the campuses of Central Georgia Technical College and Sandersville Technical College.

Prior to her role at Athens Tech, Tydings served five years as vice president for Academic Affairs at Central Georgia Technical College, was director of curriculum and staff development at Macon (Ga.) Technical Institute, and directed apprenticeship programs at several secondary school systems in the state.

Tydings earned her doctor of education degree in occupational studies at the University of Georgia and holds a master’s of education degree as a reading specialist from Mercer University and bachelor’s degree in behavioral science from Georgia Southern University.

A member of multiple professional and civic organizations, Tydings has been honored by the Boy Scouts of Northeast Georgia with the 2014 Distinguished Citizen Award. She also received the Jeanette Rankin Foundation Founders Award and the Athena International Award. The Atlanta Business Chronicle has included her among Recognized Leaders in Education every year since 2009.

Her complete application materials are available at http://tinyurl.com/FTydings

Chattanooga State Community College is a member of Tennessee’s Community Colleges, a system within the Tennessee Board of Regents. It is a comprehensive institution, offering associate of arts, associate of science, and associate of applied science degrees. The college is distinguished by the diverse population of its service area, the breadth of its curriculum, and the impact it has on the business/industrial/professional communities of the surrounding region. The college boasts the largest engineering technology, health science and industrial technology divisions in the statewide system as well as the strongest corporate training activity in the region.

The May 27 meeting is open to the public and the press. Dial-in access will be available. Those wishing to attend or participate should contact Sonja Mason at sonja.mason@tbr.edu or 615-366-3927 before 4:30 p.m. CDT May 25 so building security clearance or phone access can be arranged. Anyone with a disability who wishes to participate should use the same contact to request services needed to facilitate attendance. Contact may be made in person, by writing, by e-mail, by telephone or otherwise.