Dr. Flora Tydings Takes Over At Chattanooga State
New president Dr. Flora Tydings comes to Chatt State after a decade at the helm of Athens Tech in Georgia.
"We are going to make some changes that are sound that have good principles behind them that have a good philosophy behind it and are going to take us to the next level and do it as a team".
Tydings was chosen after an extensive search by the TN Board of Regents.
Tom Griscom, TN Board of Regents,"Several month long trip that we went on where we had 70 candidates that applied to be president of Chattanooga State community college we narrowed it down to 11, got to 5 finalists and got to Dr. Tydings".
Darrell Freeman, TN Board of Regents."With the new Tennessee Promise program more students will have the opportunity to take part in the Tennessee educational process, so its a great day for Chattanooga State to have a great leader to come in".
Faculty spent the day meeting and greeting with Tydings who says her presidency will be one of transparency.
Her appointment comes 7 months after Jim Catanzaro stepped down suddenly.
Faculty gave Catanzaro a vote of no confidence after 24 years at the helm and he faced controversy over staff appointments and pay raises.
"Faculty are looking at this as a new opportunity and chapter for them after division and morale dropped under a previous president".
Dr. Marcy O’Rourke, Animal Nursing Head, Chattanooga State, "I tried to protect myself from that, i tried to stay away from that, i didn’t want to get involved, i think we just need to have a fresh slate".
Other faculty believe Catanzaro played a major role in putting Chatt State on the map both as a tech hub and a VW partner.
Kim McCormick, Academic Affairs for Chattanooga State,"I can tell you many wonderful things have happened at this college over the past 20 years, frankly many of those happened under the direction of our former leader and for those things we are very proud".
Tydings is ranked amongst the most recognized leaders in education by the Atlanta Journal and is a UGA grad.
During Tydings tenure at Athens Tech she helped raised more than 30 million dollars in private gifts and public grants.
Leave a Reply