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TCC Selects TPS Board Member as College's Fourth President

Matt Trotter
/
KWGS

Tulsa Community College's Board of Regents picked Tulsa Public Schools Board Vice President Leigh Goodson as the college’s fourth president today.

Board of Regents Chairman Ron Looney said she’ll start July 1 but will continue in her role with TPS "until she completes at least some of the projects that she's working on."

"If she sees it's taking too much time, we'll leave that up to her. She'll have to make that decision," Looney said. "But right now, we don't see a problem."

Goodson said she plans to finish her school board term, which ends in February 2016. TCC gave her a three-year contract with a starting salary of $277,000, slightly less than retiring president Thomas McKeon.

The longtime Tulsa resident already has ideas about what challenges she’ll face in her new role, including "funding and student readiness, but whatever it's going to take before they get here so they can complete the process when they are here at Tulsa Community College and move on to the workforce," Goodson said. 

Goodson plans to continue the Tulsa Achieves program started by McKeon. She will be TCC's first female president.

Matt Trotter joined KWGS as a reporter in 2013. Before coming to Public Radio Tulsa, he was the investigative producer at KJRH. His freelance work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and on MSNBC and CNN.