Agency Press Releases

Contact: Mike Light
Executive Director of Communications
404-327-6913

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 24, 2006

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Commissioner Vollmer Names Search Committee for Next
President of Central Georgia Technical College

Macon - Georgia DTAE Commissioner Mike Vollmer today announced the creation of a nine-member search committee whose job will be to select three candidates for consideration to be the next president of Central Georgia Technical College.

“Central Georgia Tech plays such a huge role in providing technical education and workforce development for the seven-county area that it serves,” said Commissioner Vollmer. “It’s imperative that we find the next exceptional leader for CGTC, and I have great trust in this search committee’s ability to help us select the right person for the president’s job.”

The new Central Georgia Tech president will follow Mel Palmer, who retired July 31.

“I want to thank President Palmer for his dedication to technical education and wish him well in his retirement. It was his leadership and vision that helped CGTC to become the great college that it is today,” said Commissioner Vollmer.

The entire interview and selection process for the next president is expected to take four to six months, beginning with an open application period. After completion of their local interviews, the search committee will refer the top three applicants on to personal meetings with Commissioner Vollmer at DTAE’s Atlanta headquarters. Vollmer’s final selection must be approved by the state Board of Technical and Adult Education, whose members are appointed by the Governor to oversee the operation of the agency.

The CGTC search committee will be chaired by Melvin Kruger of Macon, who is the CEO of L.E. Schwartz and Son, Inc.

Also named to the search committee are Alvin Adams of Gray, real estate broker; Roddie Anne Blackwell of Eatonton, president of the Eatonton-Putnam County Chamber of Commerce; Scott Cowart of Forsyth, superintendent of the Monroe County Public Schools; Dr. Sarah Hawthorne of Jeffersonville, education consultant and owner of ALFA Skills; Dick Marcott of Milledgeville, general manager of Butler Ford Mercury Honda; Amy Moncrief of Lizella, agent for Georgia Farm Bureau; Billy Pitts of Macon, branch manager for Mutual Financial Group; and Terry Smith of Macon, regional manager of external affairs for BellSouth.

Central Georgia Tech serves Baldwin, Bibb, Crawford, Jones, Monroe, Putnam and Twiggs counties. In addition to the main Macon campus, the college also operates a campus in Milledgeville and learning centers in Gray, Eatonton, Roberta and Jeffersonville. A total of 9,842 students were enrolled in diploma, degree and certificate classes during the college’s 2006 fiscal year, and another 4,461 students were enrolled in non-credit continuing education classes during that year.

The Department of Technical and Adult Education is the state agency responsible for the governance of the 34 colleges that make up the Technical College System of Georgia. The department also administers the state's adult literacy programs and Georgia Quick Start, an economic development program dedicated to workforce training.