Atlanta/Swainsboro – The state board that oversees the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education has approved interim DTAE Commissioner Ron Jackson’s selection of William L. “Larry” Calhoun as the next president of Swainsboro Technical College, effective May 1, 2007.
The board voted their approval today during their monthly meeting. The appointment of Calhoun fills the vacancy created last summer when the previous president of Swainsboro Tech, Dr. Glenn Deibert, was named president of Southwest Georgia Technical College.
Calhoun is currently the vice president for educational services at Georgia Aviation Technical College in Eastman. He’s also the acting president of GAVTC while that school moves towards a July merger with Middle Georgia College.
“Larry Calhoun is a proven leader with strong interpersonal skills and the kind of ambitious qualities that motivate those around him to set high standards for excellence,” said Jackson. “The students, faculty and staff, and communities served by the college will all benefit from his commitment to technical education and his desire for only the very best for Swainsboro Tech.”
The process to select the new Swainsboro Tech president began in December with the naming of a nine-member search committee comprised of local citizens from the college’s service delivery area that includes Candler, Emanuel, Jenkins, Johnson and Treutlen counties. The committee, chaired by Ken Warnock, chairman of the Swainsboro Chamber of Commerce, screened a large pool of applicants and conducted numerous interviews before choosing three candidates for final interviews at DTAE’s Atlanta headquarters with Jackson and members of the agency’s senior staff.
“The process to help us find the very best candidate required considerable time and careful deliberation by the selection committee. We’re very grateful to Ken Warnock and the entire committee for the outstanding effort that they put forth to find the right person to lead Swainsboro Tech in the coming years,” said Jackson.
Calhoun has been the vice president of instruction at Georgia Aviation Technical College since 2001. He began teaching at the college as a flight instructor in 1998. He was also chairman of GAVTC’s flight technology program.
Prior to GAVTC, Calhoun had a distinguished 30-year career in the U.S. Air Force, retiring as the deputy inspector general at the Air Force Reserve Command Headquarters in Warner Robins, Ga. His military career also included positions of vice commander of the 375th Military Airlift Wing at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois and Chief of the Strategic Concepts Branch for the U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii. He’s a Viet Nam veteran who flew over 280 combat hours and received the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Calhoun earned an educational specialist degree in occupational studies from the University of Georgia in 2002. He has a master’s in public administration from Golden Gate University and a bachelor’s of science, also from the University of Georgia.
About the Department of Technical and Adult Education (DTAE)
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. The commissioner manages the day-to-day activities of the agency. The 22 members of the state Board of Technical and Adult Education are appointed by the Governor and are responsible for establishing standards, regulations and policies for the operation of DTAE and its technical colleges, economic development initiatives, and adult literacy education programs.
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