Pamlico residents can speak out on search for college president

ARAPAHOE - Residents of Pamlico County will have an opportunity Tuesday to say what attributes they would like to see in the person selected as Pamlico Community College's next president.

An open forum for the public has been set for 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the college's Delamar Center, following a similar opportunity for faculty and staff to weigh in at a 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.

Francis Marion Altman has been president of the community college for nearly 10 years and announced in August that he plans to retire June 30, 2009.

The college's Board of Trustees, headed by Chairman Charles Hardison, hired the consulting firm of North Carolina Association of Community College Trustees to assist in finding the school's next president. The board did so after meeting with Scott Ralls, head of the North Carolina Community College System and former president of Craven Community College.

Ben Casey, director of community relations for the college, said that "there appears to be significant interest from citizens of Pamlico regarding the future of the college and this is good. We sense that the public is beginning to really understand the value of this college to the community and they want a stake in its future."

This semester brought the highest enrollment in the college's 46-year history with 472 curriculum program students in degree programs, not including continuing education programs or other community-interest programs.

The 650-seat auditorium where the public forum will be held and other campus expansions, including the addition of four classrooms for health education, are considered the "crown jewels" of Altman's tenure, as well as significant expansion of curriculum programs offered at the college.

The school began in 1962 as an industrial education center satellite of Lenoir Community College and spun off to become Pamlico Industrial Education Center the next year with Paul Johnson as director.

Johnson led the school to become Pamlico Technical Institute in 1967 and became its first president, steering it toward accreditation by the Southern Association of Schools and Colleges and the new designation as Pamlico Technical College in 1971.

Johnson left in 1987 as the school became Pamlico Community College and was followed by Douglas Kearney, who came on as president in 1988 and remained until 1999.