New TNCC president announced; second woman to lead school
The Virginia Community College System announced Thursday that a North Carolina college administrator will be the next president of Thomas Nelson Community College.
Towuanna Porter Brannon, vice president of student services at Mitchell Community College in Statesville, will be the college’s ninth permanent president. She will be the second woman to lead the school, earning a $175,000 annual base salary.
“I’m excited about what she brings to the table and the way she connects with people,” VCCS Chancellor Glenn DuBois said in a news release. “I and the college community hold high hopes for what she can do to lead the college to meet the community’s needs through the pandemic, the subsequent economic recovery, and beyond.”
The college has been led by interim president Gregory DeCinque since January, when John Dever retired after almost nine years at the helm. She will start work at the beginning of next year.
Brannon, one of 92 applicants for the job, was selected over three other finalists. Those included Dan Lufkin, president of Paul D. Camp Community College and John Rainone, president of Dabney S. Lancaster Community College. The finalists made visits to campus in September.
She has a bachelor’s degree in human services and master’s degree in special education from St. John’s University, where she started her higher education career in 1999. Brannon also holds a doctorate from Fordham University in executive leadership, administration and policy.
Brannon later worked at the New York Institute of Technology, Borough of Manhattan Community College and LaGuardia Community College before moving to North Carolina to take the job at Mitchell. She was also named a finalist in two other college searches earlier this year at Western Piedmont Community College in North Carolina and Indian River State College in Florida.
“This was an extraordinary process to hire a new president during a global pandemic," said TNCC local board chair Michael Kuhns. “While the quality and depth of the finalists' pool made our decision a hard one, we found Dr. Porter Brannon to be a breath of fresh air with energy and passion, and impressive experience in growing student enrollment, student success, and building community and business partnerships – the areas we want to see our college improve moving forward.”
Matt Jones, 757-247-4729, mjones@dailypress.com
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