News        from ABAC

Michael D. Chason Director of Public Relations ABAC 30 -- 2802 Moore Highway Tifton, GA 31793-2601 Phone 229-391-5055 Fax 229-391-5056 mchason@abac.edu

IMMEDIATE MARCH 6, 2006

FIVE FINALISTS PICKED FOR ABAC PRESIDENT

TIFTON—Five finalists will begin interviewing for the position of president at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College on March 15, according to an announcement today by William Bowen, chair of the Presidential Search and Screening Committee.

Bowen said the candidates include Dr. Elazer Barnette, a Protégé in the American Association of State Colleges and Universities’ Millennium Leadership Initiative at Middle Tennessee State University; Dr. David C. Bridges, Assistant Dean of the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Tifton campus; Dr. Amelia Pearson, Provost and Dean of Instruction at Central Alabama Community College; Dr. Cathy Rozmus, Vice President of Academic Affairs at Georgia Southwestern State University; and Dr. Teresa Smith, Senior Vice President at Piedmont (S.C.) Technical College.

Smith will begin the on-campus interview process on March 15. Barnette will interview on March 16 followed by Rozmus on March 20, Pearson on March 21, and Bridges on March 22.

The interview begins at 7:30 a.m. each day with a continental breakfast in the Magnolia Room of the Donaldson Dining Hall. Members of the campus community as well as the general public are invited to this question-and-answer session.

Each candidate will then meet with the President’s Cabinet, take a campus tour, have lunch with members of the student body, meet with the search committee, and then wind up the day with a 3 p.m. reception and moderated forum in the dining hall. The reception and forum are also open to the public.

After the on-campus interviews, the search committee will send a list of approved candidates to the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. Regent Julie Hunt from Tifton is a member of the Regent’s Committee which will then select the 10^th president in the history of ABAC. That selection is scheduled to be announced in April.

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