Roane State Presidential Search Committee Selects 4 Finalists

The presidential search advisory committee for Roane State Community College selected four finalists today. Each will visit the college’s Roane County campus and Oak Ridge campus the week of Aug. 27 for a series of interviews and open forums.The finalists are

• Keith Cotroneo, president of Mountwest Community and Technical College in Huntington, West Virginia (withdrawn);
• Elizabeth Lewis, vice president of Academic Affairs at Northeast Lakeview College in Universal City, Texas;
• W. Michael Stoy, president of Middle Georgia College in Cochran, Georgia; and
• Christopher Whaley, vice president of Student Learning and chief academic officer at Roane State Community College in Harriman.

Each finalist will interview with the search committee on Aug. 29. The committee interviews are open to the press and the public as observers and will take place in the Dunbar Building Faculty Dining Room on the Roane State campus in Harriman. The detailed interview schedules will be announced next week and posted on the presidential search website at www.tbr.edu and at www.RoaneState.edu. The finalists will also participate in open forums for faculty, staff and students scheduled on both the Roane County and Oak Ridge campus sites. The campus forums will be streamed live online via links available on the presidential search websites. A separate reception for alumni and community members will be held in the late afternoons for each candidate at the Oak Ridge branch campus. The forum and reception schedules will be posted next week.The search committee’s charge is to identify and interview the finalists for the position of president. After the interviews and campus visits, Tennessee Board of Regents Chancellor John Morgan will gather feedback from committee members and make the final selection for recommendation to the Board for approval.Current Roane State President Gary Goff will retire in October after seven years as the college’s leader. Roane State is a two-year college providing transfer curricula, career-preparation programs and continuing education. Founded in 1971, the college has campuses in Crossville, Harriman, Huntsville, Jamestown, Knoxville, LaFollette, Lenoir City, Oak Ridge and Wartburg.

The TBR is the nation’s sixth largest higher education system, governing 46 post-secondary educational institutions. The TBR system includes six universities, 13 two-year colleges (including Roane State) and 27 technology centers, providing programs in 90 of Tennessee’s 95 counties to more than 200,000 students.

View finalists' resumes (Roane State Community College website)