Tennessee State University names finalists in search for next president

Tennessee State University announced the three finalists to replace longtime President Glenda Glover, who will step down at the end of the school year. The candidates will be on campus this week for forums with students, faculty and the public.

The three finalists are Charles Gibbs, CEO of the national 100 Black Men of America, William E. Hudson, vice president of student affairs at Florida A&M University, and Michael Torrence, president of Motlow State Community College in southern Middle Tennessee.

The search for a successor to Glover, who announced in August that she would step down after a decade, comes at an uncertain moment for the historically Black public university. The university's board, which led the presidential search and planned to pick Glover's successor, may be vacated by a bill being considered by the legislature.

The version of the bill passed by the Senate would dissolve the current board and allow Gov. Bill Lee to pick new members. The House on Thursday will consider an amended version of the bill that would allow the TSU board to keep three current members along with the student and faculty representatives.

The move by the legislature to dissolve the board comes a year after a critical audit by the Comptroller of the Treasury found that leadership issues led to a housing crisis. The legislature commissioned a $2 million outside audit of TSU, the results of which should be released in early April.

Torrence, who was appointed president of Motlow State in 2018, was slated to address TSU alumni and the community at a public forum Wednesday at 2 p.m. Hudson will have a public forum on Thursday at 2 p.m. Gibbs, the final candidate, will speak to the public on Friday at 3 p.m.

All the public forums will be broadcast online. For information about how to watch the public forums and more details about the candidates, visit tnstate.edu/board.

Todd A. Price is a regional reporter in the South for the USA TODAY Network. He can be reached [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TSU names finalists in presidential search