Dr. Dawn Cartee, president of Ogeechee Technical College for nine and a half years, is leaving to become director July 1 of the University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education in Athens.

The move has further repercussions as OTC Vice President for Economic Development Lori Durden steps up to become Ogeechee Tech’s next president and in the process resigns from the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia.

For Cartee, taking the job with the university in Athens means leaving the Technical College System of Georgia, whose schools she has worked in and led for 26 years. Cartee started at Ogeechee Tech in 1991 as a marketing instructor and handled public relations for the college. She left in 1999 to be vice president for academic affairs at Southeastern Technical College in Vidalia before returning to Ogeechee Tech to serve as its president, beginning Jan. 1, 2007.

“It is with great emotion that I inform you of my resignation as President of Ogeechee Technical College effective June 30, 2016,” Cartee wrote in an email to Ogeechee Tech’s employees.

“As you all are aware, my passion for the last nine years has been the transformation of Ogeechee Technical College into one of the best, if not the best, technical college in our state,” she wrote. “We have been able to accomplish this together, and I am so proud of the institution that we have become.”

During Cartee’s tenure as president, the college grew, adding 133,000 square feet of buildings, expanding its land holdings from 80 to 120 acres, and tripling its program offerings, noted the press release supplied by Ogeechee Tech Vice President for College Advancement Barry Turner. The college’s enrollment grew by more than 63 percent, Turner reported.

Ogeechee Tech won Georgia Technical College of the Year awards in 2011 and 2015. OTC students, from the one selected each year as the college’s Georgia Occupational Award of Leadership nominee, became the statewide GOAL winners in 2008, 2011 and 2014. Ogeechee Tech achieved Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges initial accreditation in 2014.

Cartee’s new place

“Now it is time for me to turn to a different challenge,” Cartee continued in her email. “I hope you understand that it would take a very special, unique opportunity for me to leave this College, and this is just that kind of an opportunity,”

At the University of Georgia, Cartee will oversee the Georgia Center, a 300,000-square-foot facility that opened in 1957 as part of a grant from the Kellogg Foundation to UGA, noted the university’s announcement posted on www.uga.edu. The center's continuing education programs include conferences and professional development courses online and through the center’s two auditoriums, nine conference rooms, five executive boardrooms and a computer training lab.

The building also houses 200 hotel rooms, a full-service restaurant, banquet areas and a café. Bill Crowe, who led the Georgia Center since 2007, is retiring June 30.

"The Georgia Center contributes to the economic and cultural vitality of our state through its broad array of continuing education programs and its first-class hotel and conference center," Cartee was quoted as saying. "I'm excited to take my skills and apply them at a place that I have admired my entire life – our state's flagship university."

Ogeechee Tech’s press release quoted Technical College System of Georgia Commissioner Gretchen Corbin.

“Dr. Cartee has been a tremendous asset to Ogeechee Technical College, its surrounding community, and the Technical College System of Georgia as a whole,” Corbin said. “I will always appreciate the stellar leadership Dr. Cartee has provided Ogeechee Tech and its students, and I look forward to watching her have new successes at the University of Georgia.”

Durden’s promotion

Meanwhile, Technical College System of Georgia Commissioner Corbin is recommending Durden to be Ogeechee Tech’s new president.

Durden will begin serving as interim president July 1. Corbin’s recommendation is for her to become permanent president, but the TCSG State Board will have to make that decision at its next meeting, Aug. 4, said Alison Tyrer, the Technical College System’s executive director of communications.

“I am honored and humbled to be asked to serve as acting president of Ogeechee Technical College,” Durden said in the press release. “The college is vital to the economic well-being of this region, and the difference it makes in the lives of students and the citizens of our communities would not be possible without a true team effort on the part of employees, local board members, foundation members, and others. I am committed to continuing that good work.”

As vice president for economic development at OTC, Durden’s responsibilities include continuing education and industry training, facility rentals and adult education, including literacy and high school-equivalent diploma programs.

“Lori has deep ties within the Ogeechee Tech region and possesses an outstanding combination of technical, academic, business, and relationship skills to lead Ogeechee Tech's faculty, staff, and students on a continued path of greatness,” Corbin was quoted as saying.

Resigns as regent

One question Thursday’s initial announcements did not answer was whether Durden would continue as a member of the Board of Regents. Since her appointment by Gov. Nathan Deal took effect in January 2013, Durden has been in a unique situation. While a college vice president in the separate Technical College System, she was simultaneously the 12th District’s member on the board that governs the University System of Georgia, including schools such as UGA and Georgia Southern University. Neither Durden nor Cartee was reached Thursday afternoon for an interview. All of their previous statements here are taken from press releases.

But in a reply email, Turner said that Durden had sent Deal her resignation as a regent. When the newspaper sought confirmation, the governor’s office supplied the letter.

“Commissioner Corbin has offered me the opportunity to serve as president of Ogeechee Technical College, a challenge which I enthusiastically accept, but one which likely impacts my ability to continue to serve on the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia,” Durden wrote. “I understand that there may be a conflict between being a president of a TCSG college and being a regent, therefore I respectfully offer my resignation from the Board of Regents effective immediately.”

She also said she regretted not completing her seven-year term, which was slated to last through 2019.

“But I am excited about the opportunities that await in serving as president of Ogeechee Tech,” Durden wrote. “Your confidence and trust in me means more than you will ever know.”