Ilsa Minor | Daily Press The Bay College Board of Trustees takes a moment to celebrate the completion of the more than six-month search for a new president. The board unanimously voted to approve a contract with Dr. Nerita Hughes, of Minnetonka, Minn. during a noon meeting Tuesday.

ESCANABA — The Bay College Board of Trustees voted unanimously to select Dr. Nerita Hughes, of Minnetonka, Minn., as the college’s next president Tuesday.

“We have extended an offer to Dr. Nerita Hughes for the position of Bay College president. The contract was agreed to last night about five o’clock, and we’re very pleased that she’ll be join us,” said Bay College Board of Trustees Secretary Eric L. Lundin prior to the final vote on Hughe’s contract. “We think she’ll be a great addition to the college (and) brings with her varying strengths in a variety of areas including workforce development.”

Hughes has served as the interim associate vice president of academic affairs and workforce innovation and was the dean for the school of business at North Hennepin Community College. She also served as a part-time faculty instructor for the human resources program at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, in Winona, Minn., and the business careers program for Minnesota State University, in Mankato, Minn.

“I am extremely excited to join and lead a student-centric institution that has a continued commitment to equity and belonging,” Hughes, who was not present at Tuesday’s meeting said in a statement. “Bay College will be the ‘community’s college’ and having the opportunity to lead within a rural community offers what I like to call ‘radical imagination’ for our future.”

Hughes holds a bachelor of science from National American University and a masters of business administration and a doctorate of education in leadership, both of which are from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota.

Through both her private sector, public sector, and higher education experience, she has acquired knowledge in the areas of training and staff development, leadership development, racial equity, and other multi-faceted activities in the business and governmental realm. According to a brief biography released by the college earlier in the selection process, she has a special interest in strengths-based development, cultural competency development, and intercultural development inventory (IDI) qualifying administrator and entrepreneurship, where she assists individuals with leveraging and maximizing their innate talents in order to develop their strengths.

Hughes was one of four finalists who visited the Bay College campuses in Escanaba and Iron Mountain.

“The Board of Trustees and I were very impressed by the quality of the candidates who applied for the Bay College presidency” said Board Chair Joy Hopkins. “Dr. Nerita Hughes embodies the best qualities in education, workforce development and leadership, and I am delighted to have her lead Bay College in the future. She is an intelligent, dynamic leader, and I believe she is the leader who will continue and expand Bay’s legacy as the community’s college into the future.”

Hughes will begin serving as the college’s president on July 10, replacing President Dr. Laura Coleman, who has served in the position for 17 years. Coleman will officially retire on June 30.

Coleman was unable to attend Tuesday’s Board of Trustees meeting. Prior to the meeting, she told the Daily Press she was happy with the board’s decision and felt she was leaving the college in good hands.