PORT ANGELES — Peninsula College President Tom Keegan is among four finalists for the top post at St. Petersburg College in Florida.
Keegan, 51, who has been president at Peninsula College since 2001, applied for the post in November.
The college announced the finalists that the search committee will recommend to the trustees on its Web site, www.spcollege.edu, on Thursday.
College trustees are expected to consider which candidates to invite for interviews after a meeting Friday and make a final decision by early April.
Pay would be ‘competitive’
Keegan, who earns about $165,000 annually at Peninsula College, said that St. Petersburg College hasn’t yet set a salary range for the job, and that pay would be negotiated.
“All I know at this point is it will be competitive,” he said.
The current president, Carl Kuttler Jr., who is retiring at the end of the school year after serving since 1978, is paid $388,000 annually, according to a January story in The Tampa Tribune.
Keegan tied for the search committee’s top choice at the helm of the St. Petersburg, Fla. institution, which has expanded from a two-year junior college into a community college offering a variety of four-year degree programs.
Keegan said the position offers him an opportunity to grow in his career as a college president.
‘Appealing opportunity’
“As one of the premier institutions in the nation, St. Petersburg College presents a unique and appealing career opportunity,” Keegan said.
“The depth and range of its programs and degree options closely parallel my own interests in advancing and promoting community college education.”
He makes note of that in a 10-minute DVD interview — all four finalists answered questions via DVD that are now posted to YouTube — saying that his philosophy of education matches that of the college.
The other three finalists for the job 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 and Law were tied for the selection committee’s first choice, with 11 votes each.
Originally, 48 people applied, but 27 either didn’t meet the criteria or dropped out, leaving 21 applicants in the pool from which the four finalists were chosen, The Tampa Tribune said.
Tech-savvy college
Keegan said the school also is known for its technology programs, and has been ranked as one of the top tech-savvy community colleges in the nation by the Digital Community Colleges Survey.
The college, which was founded in 1927, was the first two-year college in Florida to offer a four-year degree, Keegan said.
About 65,000 students attend classes, and the college is consistently ranked in the nation’s top 10 community colleges for degrees awarded, Keegan said.
Peninsula College Board of Trustees Chairman John Miller said that if Keegan were to leave, he would be missed but that the board supports him.
‘Outstanding job’
“Dr. Keegan continues to do an outstanding job as president of Peninsula College,” Miller said in a written statement.
“His leadership and influence in community college education are widely recognized at the local, state and national levels.
“We appreciate the excellent work he has done for Peninsula College.
“We would love to keep him, but at the same time we support him in his pursuit of this career opportunity.”
Keegan said that although he was excited about the possibility of the opportunity in Florida, he was happy with his work at Peninsula College.
Peninsula College has about 1,560 full-time students — which can mean up to 10,000 students per year because many students are part-time.
Before coming to Peninsula College, Keegan was vice president of educational services at Columbia Basin College in Pasco.
New buildings
During his tenure at Peninsula College, Keegan has led the college to secure millions from the state Legislature for new buildings on the campus.
The college received about $36 million from the state Legislature to fund the construction of the 61,750-square-foot Maier Hall, which is currently under construction.
A new library on campus amounted to a $14 million project, and replaces a 1964 library structure.
The new library is about 27,000 square feet, and the adjoining administration building — built at the same time — is about 8,000 square feet.
The Longhouse, called the House of Learning, was opened in 2007 as a place for Native American cultural traditions to be shared.
The college has also started its first four-year degree program with a bachelor of applied science in applied management.
Keegan was one of the college leaders working with the state Legislature to secure authorization for community colleges to offer a bachelor degree of applied sciences.
In his DVD interview Keegan said he believed a four-year degree was a natural transition for a community college.
“As community colleges continue to make this transition it is important to keep up the academic quality and rigor, to communicate both needs and successes and to ensure that we continue to operate as an open-door institution that will continue to operate at the same level of responsiveness to local and regional needs,” he said.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.