Three finalists for the presidency of Clayton College & State University are under consideration by University System of Georgia Chancellor Stephen R. Portch and the Board of Regents' special committee, chaired by Regent Juanita Powell Baranco with Regents Glenn S. White and James D. Yancey also serving.

The committee will interview the finalists and make a recommendation to the Board of Regents, which will make the final decision.

A significant percentage of Clayton State's students come from Fayette county.

Finalists, in alphabetical order, are:

Thomas K. Harden, Ph.D., dean of the College of Technology (1993 to present) and interim dean of the College of Business (since January 1999) at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Mich. Between 1985 and 1993, he held a number of positions at Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights, Ky., including chairperson of and professor in the Department of Technology, acting dean of University College, and associate dean of the College of Professional Studies.

He has held teaching positions at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas (1982-85), Western Illinois University in Macomb, Ill. (1981-82), and Miami University in Oxford, Ohio (1978-81).

Harden holds a B.S. degree from Miami University, a M.S. degree from the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio, and a doctorate in education from the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Arthur T. King, Ph.D., dean of the School of Business and Economics and professor of economics, Winston-Salem State University in Winston-Salem, N.C. (1995 to present). Prior to his current position, King served from 1993-1994 as an American Council on Education Fellow at Duke University in Durham, N.C.; from 1982-1995 as a professor and associate professor of economics at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and from 1979-1982 as an associate professor of economics and deputy head of the Department of System Acquisition Management at the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright Patterson Air Force Base.

Between 1962 and 1979 he served in a number of positions with the U.S. Air Force. King holds a B.S. degree from Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Ala., a M.S. in economics from South Dakota Sate University in Brookings, S.D., and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Colorado in Boulder.

William N. Ruud, Ph.D., vice president for Institutional Advancement, Boise State University, in Boise, Idaho (1998 to present). Ruud also served as dean of the College of Business and Economics at Boise State from 1993 through 1998.

Prior to this, he held a number of positions, including dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio, (1985-1993).

Ruud also served in the U.S. Army from 1978 through 1988, rising to the rank of captain in the Army Reserve. He holds a B.S. degree from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, and a M.B.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln.