St. Petersburg College President Bill Law is retiring July 1.

PINELLAS COUNTY – St. Petersburg College has named five finalists in the search for a replacement for President Bill Law, who is retiring.

Each of the five, who were chosen by the college’s search and screen committee, is scheduled to visit the campus in May to meet with faculty, staff, students and community members. They will also be interviewed by the SPC board of trustees, which will hold special meetings in May. The board has tentatively scheduled a special meeting at 9 a.m. May 31 to choose the college’s next president. Candidate interviews are scheduled to be at the St. Petersburg/Gibbs Campus, Music Center, 6605 Fifth Ave N. The May 31 selection meeting is scheduled to be at the SPC EpiCenter, Room 1-453, 13805 58th St. N, Clearwater

The finalists, their interview times and dates, in chronological order, are

Edward Bonahue, PhD, Provost and VP for Academic Affairs, Santa Fe College, Gainesville – 4 p.m. May 4.

Stan Vittetoe, PhD, Provost, St. Petersburg College, Clearwater – 4 p.m. May 9.

Tonjua Williams, PhD, Sr. Vice President, Student Services, St. Petersburg College, St. Petersburg – 4 p.m. May 16.

James Henningsen, EdD, President, College of Central Florida, Ocala – 4 p.m. May 22.

Frank A. Biafora, Jr., PhD, Dean and Professor, College of Arts and Sciences at University of South Florida St. Petersburg – 4 p.m. May 26.

The educator who is chosen will become the college’s seventh president, replacing Law who announced his retirement last November. It is a position he has held since n June 7, 2010.

His effort to increase student success has allowed him to work at state and national levels and has provided opportunities such as consulting with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Aspen Institute, providing expert testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives, and serving as a member of the Florida Task Force on Community College Baccalaureate Education. Dr. Law also serves as the Co-Chair of the SPC Strategic Issues Council, the core team for the Achieving the Dream Initiative.

Law was a vocal champion of the creation of the Douglas L. Jamerson, Jr. Midtown Center, which opened in St. Petersburg in August 2015 to high acclaim for its community focus and commitment to providing educational equity.

Under Law’s leadership and guidance, SPC was selected as one of only 30 community colleges in the nation to participate in the prestigious Pathways Project led by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC). He also ushered in The College Experience, which was awarded the Chancellor’s Best Practices Award in 2014 and recognized as a Model of Excellence by University Business magazine in 2015 for its effectiveness in improving student success rates, particularly among First-Time-In-College (FTIC) students and especially FTIC minority males.

For information about the presidential search, go to spcollege.edu.

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