Atlanta — May 14, 2007

Regent Elridge McMillan, chair of the Special Regents’ Committee for the presidential search at Savannah State University (GSW), and University System of Georgia Interim Vice Chancellor and Chief Academic Officer Beheruz N. Sethna today announced the names of the three finalists for the SSU presidency.

The finalists, all with extensive backgrounds in higher education administration at the senior executive level, are candidates to replace SSU President Carlton Brown who led SSU for nine years and now serves as special assistant to the chancellor for System-wide projects.

“We have a fine group of finalists for this presidency,” Sethna said. “I feel very confident of each candidate’s ability to provide outstanding leadership for Savannah State University.”

Regent McMillan said, “We are very pleased with the finalists we are recommending to the full Board of Regents. Each one of them is well qualified to continue building on Savannah State’s reputation for excellence.

The finalists, in alphabetical order, are as follows:

Dr. Algeania Warren Freeman, a former college president now a senior fellow at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in Princess Anne, Md. In this position, which Freeman has held since 2006, she provides fundraising consultation and assistance for a $14 million capital campaign to support student scholarships. During 2005-2006, while working at the Foundation for Independent Higher Education, Freeman also founded and served as program director for the Kellogg Collegiate Women of Color Leadership Development Institute. From 2001 to 2004, Freeman served as president of Livingstone College, a private liberal-arts college in Salisbury, N.C., with 1,100 students. During this time, she earned the Harlem Renaissance Award for Outstanding HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) President.

Freeman previously spent more than 16 years in a variety of positions at Norfolk State University in Norfolk, Va., (1997-2001; 1978-1987; 1973-1976), including acting vice president of advancement, executive director of the university foundation and chair of a department made up of health sciences programs. From 1995 to 1997, she worked as vice president for advancement and program development at Southern California College in Costa Mesa, Ca. From 1992 to 1995, she was dean of the division of consumer and health sciences at Orange Coast College, also in Costa Mesa.

Freeman holds a Ph.D. in speech and hearing science she received in 1977 from Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio; a master of science degree in speech pathology and audiology received from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Ill. In 1972; and a bachelor of science degree in English received from Fayetteville State University in Fayetteville, N.C., in 1970.

Dr. Patricia Pierce Ramsey, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Bowie State University in Bowie, Md., since 2004, briefly served as interim president in 2006. Bowie State University, a regional comprehensive university of the University System of Maryland has a student body of nearly 5300 stateside and more than 1000 in Europe and Asia. Before her arrival in Maryland, Ramsey served as vice president for academic affairs at Shaw State University in Raleigh, N.C., from 2000 to 2004.

In addition to her service in academic affairs, Ramsey served as associate vice president for development and associate professor of biology at Norfolk State University, from 1995-1999. Her background also includes several years spent teaching biology at Norfolk State, Hampton University, Howard University in Washington, D.C., Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., and Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

Ramsey, a member of the board of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (Virginia Unit) from 1996 to 2000, holds a Ph.D. in biology from Georgetown University, a master of arts degree in biology from Harvard, a master of science degree in botany from Howard and a bachelor of science degree in biology education from Norfolk State. In addition, she has completed leadership programs at Harvard’s Institute for Educational Management, the Millennium Leadership Institute of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, and the CIVIC Leadership Institute.

Dr. Earl G. Yarbrough Sr., full professor and former provost and vice president for academic and student affairs at Virginia State University in Petersburg, Va. Yarbrough was Virginia State’s chief academic officer from 1998 to 2003 and also has administrative experience at two other public HBCU’s. He served as the first dean of the School of Technology at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, N.C., from 1986 to 1998 and chair of the Industrial Technology Department at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff in Pine Bluff, Ark., from 1984 to 1986.

In addition, Yarbrough completed a year-long fellowship with the Kellogg Foundation Minority Serving Institution Leadership Program from 2003 to 2004 and has held full professorships at Virginia State University (1998-present), North Carolina A & T (1986-1998), the University of Arkansas (1984-1986) and Northeastern Oklahoma State University in Tahlequah, Okla. (1982-84).

Yarbrough earned a Ph.D. in industrial education from Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, in 1976, a master of arts in industrial studies from California State University at Los Angeles in 1974 and a bachelor of arts in industrial education from Wichita State University in Wichita, Kan., in 1969.

The Board of Regents expects to name the next president of Savannah State University at its June meeting.

« News Releases