Thom Baynum, the fourth candidate for the Bainbridge College presidency position, is president of a Texas college.

Baynum will be at Bainbridge College on Thursday and at the Early County site on Friday. He has been the president of Coastal Bend College in Texas since July 2007

Previously, he served as vice president of academic affairs at Palo Alto College, one of the Alamo Colleges in San Antonio, Texas; as dean of Arts and Sciences at Richland Community College in Decatur, Ill., and as coordinator for Arts & Humanities at Northwest College, one of the Houston Community Colleges.

Coastal Bend College is a federally-designated Hispanic Serving Institution, originally founded as Bee County College in 1965. The college opened its first campus in Beeville in 1967, and subsequent full-service centers in Alice (1989), Kingsville (1998) and Pleasanton (2003).

Credit and continuing education vocational courses are also taught in one federal and two state prison facilities, according to information Baynum supplied to Bainbridge College’s presidential search committee.

“The college president is the executive officer of the board and chief administrative officer for the institution, serving as the chief interpreter of College objectives and activities to the community and conversely, spokesman for the community to College personnel. The President has the responsibility of maintaining amity and unity of purpose among all members of the faculty and administration, non-instructional employees, the Board, the alumni, and the College constituency. The President also serves as the Chief Academic Officer of the institution and oversees the academic transfer and workforce programs, faculty and staff,” Baynum wrote.

He earned his Bachelor of Arts in English and French and his master’s in English education from Wayne State College in Wayne, Neb. After moving to Texas, he earned his Doctorate in Higher Education Administration from Baylor University. He has also participated in post-doctoral studies in Educational Management at Harvard University.

The third candidate, Graham Hatcher, visited the Bainbridge campus on Monday. Hailing from a family of educators, Hatcher said his whole life has centered around higher education including where the family took vacations, and considers an opportunity to lead Bainbridge College as his calling.

The search committee has two more candidates coming after Thursday—one is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 16, and the last one scheduled is on Thursday, Sept. 23.