Chancellor recommends candidates for presidents of Cleveland State Community College and TCAT Oneida/Huntsville for Board of Regents’ consideration in April 30 meeting

After deliberative search processes at both institutions, Tennessee Board of Regents Chancellor Flora W. Tydings is recommending the appointments of Dr. John M. Davis as the next president of Cleveland State Community College and Timothy Smith as the next president of Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT) Oneida/Huntsville.

The Board of Regents will consider the chancellor’s recommendations during a special called meeting Thursday, April 30. The board appoints presidents of the colleges under its governance: Tennessee’s public community colleges and colleges of applied technology.

The board meeting will be held via teleconferencing and publicly livestreamed and archived on the TBR website here (https://www.tbr.edu/board/april-30-2026-%E2%80%93-special-called-board-m...). It will convene at 10 a.m. ET/9 a.m. CT. Board materials are posted at the meeting link above.

Davis has been vice president of administrative services at Germanna Community College in Virginia since 2017 and an administrator there since 2008. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Educational Policy, Planning, and Leadership from the College of William and Mary, a Master of Science in Higher Education and a Bachelor of Science in Criminology, both from Florida State University, and an Associate of Arts from Gulf Coast Community College.

Smith is currently TCAT Oneida/Huntsville’s vice president and has served in the TBR system since 2007. He earned Master of Science and Bachelor of Science degrees in Elementary Education, both at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

The chancellor’s nominees were among finalists selected by search advisory committees at each college, which spent months reviewing and interviewing candidates. Finalists for TCAT Oneida/Huntsville were announced April 3, and finalists for Cleveland State were announced April 8. The finalists participated in campus visits and public interviews, with opportunities for public and campus community feedback. The chancellor selected the two candidates for her recommendation to the board after carefully reviewing the feedback and more interviews with the finalists.

Both search committees were composed of board members and representatives of the colleges’ faculty, staff, students, and civic leaders from their communities.

Tydings thanked members of the search committees for their service. She also thanked Cleveland State’s interim president, Dr. Ray Brooks, a retired president of community and technical colleges in Georgia and South Carolina, who is serving his second tenure as interim president at Cleveland.

At TCAT Oneida/Huntsville, President Dwight Murphy is retiring this summer after more than 20 years as the college’s chief executive officer.