PORT ANGELES — The St. Petersburg College trustees has voted unanimously to accept Peninsula College President Tom Keegan as one of the final four applicants for its next president.
Keegan, 51, who lives in Port Angeles, expects interviews to be arranged next week.
“They hope to have that process done next week, and interviews sometime into early April,” he said Saturday.
Trustees of the St. Petersburg, Fla., community college voted on the finalists Friday.
The 5-0 vote came after an hour of public input and another hour of discussion by board members.
One finalist each week will visit the college beginning the week of Feb. 22, according to the St. Petersburg College’s Web site, www.spcollege.edu.
The finalists will meet with college employees, students and members of the community before interviewing with the trustees, who hope to fill the position in April.
Keegan earns about $165,000 annually at Peninsula College, which has about 1,560 full-time students. Since many students are part-time, the college may serve up to 10,000 students per year.
Keegan said that St. Petersburg College, which serves about 65,000 students and offers several four-year degrees, hasn’t yet set a salary range for the job, and that pay would be negotiated.
The current president of the college in St. Petersburg, Fla., Carl Kuttler Jr., is paid $388,000 annually, according to a January story in The Tampa Tribune.
Kuttler is retiring after serving since 1978.
A search committee had recommended the four finalists.
The other three are Paula Gastenveld, 56, assistant to the chancellor, Kentucky Community and Technical College System, which has 16 colleges; Bill Law, 61, president of Tallahassee Community College; and Kaye Walter, 55, chief learning officer, Valencia Community College, Orlando, Fla.
Keegan tied with Law as the search committee’s top choice at the helm of the St. Petersburg, Fla. institution.
Keegan applied for the post in November. He has served as Peninsula College president since 2001.
Before coming to Peninsula College, Keegan was vice president of educational services at Columbia Basin College in Pasco.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
