Coker College moving forward with search for new president

Coker College’s President’s Transition Committee has narrowed its search for the school’s 16th president to eight candidates, according to Charles Sullivan, chairman of Coker’s Board of Trustees and executive vice president at Sonoco.

“We’ve been encouraged by the quality of candidates who are interested in Coker (College),” Sullivan said. “We believe Coker is an exciting place and a place that will continue to provide a very good environment for higher education in the Pee Dee.

“We obviously want someone who has excellent leadership skills. We want someone that’s a proven team builder. We want someone who has a vision and a passion for a liberal arts education,” he said. “In today’s environment, with the financial and economic conditions we’re facing, we need someone who has a good handle on managing and continuing to lead the financial stability of the college.”

Sullivan, who isn’t a part of the search committee, said the next step is to narrow those candidates down to three or four finalists.

He said the search committee will interview the eight candidates in January and will select at least two or three finalists.

“The intent would be in early February to bring the two or final three — however many they pick out of the eight (candidates) that they’ll talk to — into Hartsville (and) on the campus to talk to people ... to get a feel of (of the campus),” Sullivan said. “The selection process would culminate with a decision by the end of March 26.

“Our plan would be that, at that meeting, we would finalize the selection process and have the new president named,” he said.

The presidential search began when Dr. B. James Dawson announced in February he would retire at the end of the 2008-09 academic year.

Dawson became the college’s 15th president in July 2002.

Karen Lear, a 1998 Coker College graduate and professor at the University of South Carolina, was selected to lead the college’s search committee in its effort to find Dawson’s successor.

The board selected Coleman Lew & Associates, based in Charlotte, N.C., to help the committee perform a national presidential search.