Atlanta — August 24, 2001

The appointment of the Presidential Search and Advisory Committee charged with assisting in the selection of a new president for Gordon College was announced today by University System of Georgia Chancellor Stephen R. Portch.

In keeping with Board of Regents’ policy on presidential searches, committee members were selected from a list of nominees submitted for consideration by the leadership of the various constituencies represented on the committee - faculty, staff, students, the Gordon College Foundation and the community.

A second committee - this one consisting entirely of Regents - also will assist with the new president’s selection. Board Chair Hilton Howell has appointed Regent Connie Cater to chair the Special Regents Committee. The other members of this committee are Regent James D. Yancey and Regent J. Timothy Shelnut. Regent Howell and Chancellor Portch serve as ex-officio members on all regent presidential search committees.

The Presidential Search and Advisory Committee will be chaired by Dr. Daniel Jackson, an associate professor of chemistry at the college. The other faculty members appointed to the committee are: Dr. Luanne Fowler, a professor of psychology, and Laura Patton, an associate professor of nursing.

The college’s staff will be represented on the committee by Leigh Anderson, director of business services. Alexis Allen, a sophomore education major who serves as a senator in Gordon College’s Student Government Association, will represent the student body.

The Gordon College Foundation will be represented by its president, Peter Banks, a lawyer and a former state senator from Barnesville who graduated from Gordon Military College. The committee will have as its community representative James R. Matthews Jr., mayor of Barnesville for the past 26 years and a graduate of Gordon Military College.

The chancellor will formally charge the members of the search committee in a meeting on the campus on Monday, Aug. 27. One of the group’s first tasks will be to assist in the selection of a search firm charged with identifying qualified candidates for the presidency.

Once the campus-based committee has narrowed the field to five candidates, the Special Regents Committee will interview and evaluate these unranked finalists and advise the chancellor of its findings. The chancellor makes the final recommendation to the full Board of Regents, which then makes the selection.

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