Finalists selected for presidency of Motlow State Community College

Motlow State Community College

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

The finalists are:

  • Dr. Shannon L. Kennedy, executive vice president of Cleveland Community College in Shelby, NC.
  • Dr. Jon D. Mandrell, vice president of academics and student services at Sauk Valley Community College in Dixon, IL.
  • Dr. Niles Reddick, vice provost at the University of Memphis—Lambuth in Jackson, TN
  • Dr. Michael L. Torrence, assistant vice president of academic affairs at Volunteer State Community College in Gallatin, TN

The finalists’ resumes are available for review on the Presidential/Executive Searches section of the Tennessee Board of Regents website at https://www.tbr.edu/hr/executivesearches/mscc-2018

Each candidate will spend time on Motlow’s Moore County and Smyrna campuses in meetings and open forums with constituent groups next week, including faculty, staff, students and the public.

The forums are open to the public and campus community. The forums are scheduled for: Reddick, noon to 1 p.m. Feb. 5; Torrence, 2:15 to 3:15 p.m. Feb. 6; Kennedy, 11 a.m. to noon, Feb. 7, and Mandrell, 2:15 to 3:15 p.m. Feb. 8. The forums, which will be live-streamed on the website above, will be held in Room 112 of the Marcum Technology Building on Motlow’s main campus in  Moore County.

The Board of Regents – the college’s governing board – approved the Motlow State search criteria at its Sept. 22 quarterly meeting and appointed a 17-member Presidential Search Advisory Committee. The committee's charge was to identify and interview candidates and narrow the applicant pool to three to five finalists.

The advisory committee included four members of the Board of Regents and representatives of the Motlow faculty, staff, students, alumni and the community at large. The committee held its first meeting Oct. 24 on campus, along with an open forum in which members of the campus community and public expressed their views about qualities the committee should look for when reviewing candidates.

Regent Tom Griscom chaired the search committee. Other board members who served were Regents Emily J. Reynolds, the board’s vice chair, Yolanda Greene and Joey Hatch.

After the campus visits, TBR Chancellor Flora W. Tydings will gather feedback from the forums and meetings, and interview each of the finalists, to select one candidate for nomination to the Board of Regents. The board will appoint the next president, during a public meeting that has not yet been scheduled.

The search committee worked with the executive search firm Greenwood/Asher & Associates to help identify a broad range of highly qualified candidates from around the country. There were 57 applicants.

The next president will succeed Dr. Anthony G. Kinkel, who resigned in June. Hilda Tunstill, Motlow’s vice president of finance and administration, is serving as interim president until the next president takes office. The goal is to have a new president in office by July 1.

Motlow State Community College is a public, comprehensive, two-year, open-access college founded in 1969. The college awards the Associate of Arts, Associate of Science, Associate of Applied Science, and Associate of Science in Teaching degrees, and certificates of credit. The college serves an 11-county area in southern Middle Tennessee, including Bedford, Cannon, Coffee, DeKalb, Franklin, Lincoln, Moore, Rutherford, Van Buren, Warren and White Counties. Its main campus is in Moore County, with branch campuses in Fayetteville, McMinnville and Smyrna.

 

The College System of Tennessee is the state’s largest public higher education system, with 13 community colleges, 24 colleges of applied technology and the online TN eCampus serving approximately 140,000 students. The system is governed by the Tennessee Board of Regents.

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