The college’s board of trustees advanced the four from a national search for candidates to replace Dr. Laura Coleman, who will retire on June 30.

The four finalists will be interviewed and meet the campus community April 24-27. The public is invited to participate.

The four, in alphabetical order, are:

— Dr. Lawrence D. Brandyburg, most recently interim president of Bishop State Community College in Mobile, Alabama. He has more than 27 years of experience in higher education, beginning at Lone Star College System in Houston, Texas, serving more than 80,000 students annually. He has been in various leadership roles within the instructional, student success and student support divisions. Brandyburg was the founding vice president of Instruction and Student Success at Lone Star College-University Park in 2012 and has also led internationally as CEO of Lone Star College-Jakara. He earned an associate of arts from Blinn College, a bachelor of arts in history, and a master of arts in sociology from Prairie View A&M University. He earned a doctor of philosophy in educational administration from the University of Texas at Austin’s Community College Leadership Program.

TONY HAWKINS

— Dr. Tony D. Hawkins, most recently provost and executive vice president of Academic Affairs, Continuing Education, and Workforce Development at Frederick Community College in Frederick, Maryland; he is on sabbatical for spring 2023. Before that he was the collegewide dean of humanities at Montgomery College in Maryland, with oversight of a division that included history, political science, world languages, philosophy, American Sign Language, women’s and gender studies and two learning centers. He has performed other administrative assignments as a campus dean of Art, Humanities, and Social Sciences at the Takoma Park/Silver Spring campus of Montgomery College and associate dean of English and Humanities at Hudson County Community College in Jersey City, N.J. Hawkins was an associate professor of speech communication and theater at Prince George’s Community College in Maryland.

Hawkins has a bachelor’s degree from Towson State University, master’s from University of Georgia, Certificate of Advanced Study from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, and Ph.D. in educational leadership from New York University.

— Dr. Nerita Hughes, interim associate vice president of Academic Affairs and Workforce Innovation at North Hennepin Community College in Brooklyn Park, Minn., and president/CEO of JG Consulting LLC, which offers a variety of expertise ranging from public and private sector to higher education. She is a former adjunct instructor for the human resources program at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota and business and careers programs for Minnesota State University, which allows her to demonstrate and teach racial equity with education.

She has a bachelor of science degree from National American University, a masters of business administration and a doctorate of education in leadership, both from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota.

— Dr. Ross Peterson-Veatch, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college, as well as professor of folklore at Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas. In his administrative role, he has been responsible for providing leadership and oversight for all academic programs and departments, including Southwestern’s traditional campus in Winfield and additional locations that deliver adult and graduate programs. Southwestern College is a private liberal arts college associated with the Methodist Church classified as a “master’s-mixed” institution. At Southwestern he has focused on hiring a diverse faculty, and building new programs for assessment, faculty development, and program review.

NERITA HUGHES

Before coming to Southwestern in 2017, Peterson-Veatch was in administration at Goshen College in Goshen, Indiana, rising to interim vice president for academic affairs. Before Goshen, Peterson-Veatch was an instructional consultant at Indiana University Bloomington’s Kelley School of Business as well as an IUB faculty member in the liberal arts and management program. He also has been a faculty member at Earlham College, Goucher College and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. He has a bachelor’s degree from Earlham College in Spanish and sociology/anthropology and master’s and doctorate degrees in folklore from Indiana University, Bloomington.

The finalists will participate in a full day of interviews, tours and meetings with the campus community April 24 through 27. The public is invited to sit in on the board of trustees’ interviews in the Besse Theater and ask questions after each interview.

An opportunity to meet the finalists at the west campus in Iron Mountain will also be available to the public.

Anyone who attends will be encouraged to complete an online feedback survey for each candidate.

The schedules for public participation are available at www.baycollege.edu/president.

ROSS PETERSON-VEATCH