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REBECCA CATALANELLOPasco-Hernando Community College names Katherine Johnson its new leader.
NEW PORT RICHEY - A spirited woman who dazzled faculty with her down-home charm and near-spotless reputation was selected Tuesday as the third president of Pasco-Hernando Community College.
Katherine Johnson, 58, beat out two finalists to replace retiring PHCC president Robert Judson by an 8-1 vote of the school's board of trustees.
"I feel like she's the perfect fit," trustee John Church said before the vote.
As president of Nash Community College in Rocky Mount, N.C., Johnson earned a reputation as a visionary and as a faculty and student advocate.
She successfully secured staff raises during tight financial times and has been credited with raising the college's community profile during her four-year reign.
After PHCC trustees Tom Weightman and Judy Parker conducted fact-finding interviews at Nash last month, they reported back to the board that "there was not a single negative word voiced about her" during conversations with 40 people at the college.
"Really, other than Mother Teresa, I can't think of a single person who turned out to that level," said trustee Judy Braak.
The board took less than an hour to arrive at its decision. But it didn't come without some pains.
As the sole internal candidate, PHCC vice president Paul Szuch, 58, generated some negative feedback during the search from his fellow faculty and staff.
Trustee Pam Vergara said she was not convinced the search process was fair to Szuch since faculty members were invited to submit what they believed were anonymous e-mails about the candidates to the board.
Some of the e-mail comments, which are public records, were printed in the St. Petersburg Times. Only three of the 57 comments submitted were favorable toward Szuch. By contrast, 40 favored Johnson.
"The personal and professional damage to our internal candidate is obvious," Vergara wrote in a letter she submitted to the board.
Vergara made a motion to halt the process and start the search anew. It failed for lack of a second. She later cast the lone vote for Szuch.
"This is not a new process," Judson responded. Faculty and staff were not told by search coordinator Sherry Thomas-Dertke that their e-mails would be anonymous, he said. During the last PHCC presidential search, he said, faculty responses were solicited then as well.
"I think we have done a very thorough process. It's been above board."
Carl Hite, 58, president of Cleveland State Community College in Tennessee, received the board's endorsement as the No. 2 pick, with a vote of 5-4. Hite will be chosen as president in the event contract negotiations with Johnson fail.
Board chair Parker called each finalist after the meeting concluded to tell them their decision. Johnson, she said, sounded excited and overwhelmed.
Johnson holds degrees from Florida Community College at Jacksonville, University of West Florida, University of Montevallo and Florida Atlantic University. Before being hired at Nash, she worked 17 years at Indian River Community College in Fort Pierce, where she rose from guidance counselor to vice president.
Opened in 1972 as Florida's 28th community college, PHCC has been home to only two presidents to date. Judson, who retires Jan. 31 at age 63, replaced founder Milton Jones in 1994, becoming the first black president in Florida's integrated community college system.
Though Judson enjoyed a great deal of faculty support when he was hired as an internal candidate, the Board of Trustees was ultimately divided 5-4 over his appointment. Today Judson feels his work has proven the skeptics wrong.
PHCC is among the fastest growing community colleges in Florida. It operates on campuses in Dade City, New Port Richey and Brooksville and a small center in Spring Hill.
Parker said she hopes trustees will vote on Johnson's contract at the board's November meeting so that the president-elect can begin work by Feb. 1. Judson currently earns $159,000 annually but the salary will be negotiated.