Peninsula Daily News and news sources
Bill Law of Tallahassee, Fla., was selected over Peninsula College President Tom Keegan as the new president of St. Petersburg College in Florida.
The vote by the college’s five-member Board of Trustees at its Tuesday meeting was unanimous.
Keegan had tied with Law — who has served as president of Tallahassee Community College for the past eight years — as the search committee’s top choice when it compiled a slate of four finalists.
“It was an interesting and enlightening process and I learned a lot,” said Keegan, who has led Peninsula College as its president since 2001.
“But I love being president of [Peninsula College] and am looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow,” Keegan added.
He said he wasn’t looking at any other opportunities right now.
“I love this community and the excellent board and faculty and staff,” he said.
“I’m ready to get back to work tomorrow and get back to the important work of teaching and learning.”
Wilma Norton, assistant director of institutional advancement at St. Petersburg College, said that the board debated the decision in a two-hour meeting Tuesday afternoon.
Very close
“It was very close between Dr. Keegan and Dr. Law,” she said.
“When it looked like it was going to be a 3-2 vote for Dr. Law they decided to vote to make it unanimous.”
Keegan had interviewed at the college on March 31.
Law has been president of Tallahassee Community College since 2002 and was a vice president at St. Petersburg College in the 1980s.
“This was a difficult decision, as all four finalists brought interesting credentials and visions to the process, and any one of the four could have led SPC with distinction,” said Terrence E. Brett, the board’s chairman in a prepared statement.
“As the selection process progressed, we came to feel that William Law possessed the unique set of leadership qualifications and values that we were looking for.”
Law will replace Carl M. Kuttler Jr., who retired at the end of 2009.
Kuttler had led the college as president since 1978. During his tenure the college began to offer baccalaureate degrees, the first community college in Florida to do so.
‘Knows the Legislature’
“My conservative nature is one that would probably lean toward an individual who is tested, who is seasoned, who is a known quantity, who knows Florida, who knows the Legislature,” said board Chairman Terrance Brett, according to the Tampa Tribune.
Law “knows the system and he can be great on day one,” Brett was quoted as saying.
The Tampa newspaper said one board member said Keegan represented a “breath of fresh air.”
“Think of a time when you did what was not safe, and that was to open up this college to four-year degrees,” board member Deveron Gibbons said.
According to the Tampa paper, Gibbons also questioned whether Law could lead the college to “new heights,” given that he has said he plans to stay only about 10 years.
“I don’t want to look back and say we made a safe bet but not really the guy to carry students forward for the long haul.”
During the meeting, the board eliminated the other two finalists — Paula Marie Gastenveld, assistant to the chancellor for workforce development, academic and student affairs at Kentucky Community and Technical College System in Versailles, Ky., and B. Kaye Walter, executive vice president and chief learning officer for Valencia Community College in Orlando — early in the discussion.
Penisnsula College, based in Port Angeles, has satellite campuses in Forks and Port Townsend.
