During a three-hour meeting held Sept. 5, Durham Technical Community College's Board of Trustees selected three finalists for further consideration as the president to lead the college when Dr. Phail Wynn, Jr., retires at the end of December.

Selected finalists are Dr. Algie Gatewood, President of Portland Community College’s Cascade Campus in Portland, Oregon; Dr. William G. “Bill” Ingram, Senior Vice President and Chief Instructional Officer at Durham Tech; and Dr. Sharon Morrissey, Vice President for Instructional Services at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College in Asheville, North Carolina.

The Board selected the three finalists after day-long interview activities held with 5 semi-finalists selected from a field of 68 applicants, the largest applicant pool of any other community college’s president search in recent years. As part of the interview process, each candidate met with student, faculty, and staff groups at the college during open forum question and answer sessions. After these sessions, the Board gave all participating individuals an opportunity to provide anonymous confidential input in writing about their impressions of each candidate. In addition to the open forum sessions, the five semi-finalists were interviewed by the Board and representatives of the college's faculty, staff, administrators, and students. The interview included approximately 40 questions asked of each candidate.

The names, letters of application and resumes, as well as references for the three finalists were immediately submitted to N.C. Community College System President Martin Lancaster and the State Board of Community Colleges for review during the State Board’s Sept. 21 meeting. Their feedback will then be returned to the college’s Board of Trustees. If all three finalists are reviewed favorably, Durham Tech's Board will then choose the next president from the three finalists and submit that name to the System president for State Board consideration during its meeting Oct. 19. Upon State Board approval, the college’s Board plans to offer the leadership position and hopes to finalize a contract with the selected candidate before Dr. Phail Wynn, Jr., leaves his position after a 27-year career at the college. Dr. Wynn will begin a new position as a vice president at Duke University the day after he retires from Durham Tech.