Carson City -- Nevada's Board of Regents today unanimously appointed Dr. Carol A. Lucey, to serve as the fourth president of Western Nevada Community College.

The decision was the culmination of a seven-month presidential search which drew 132 applicants and nominees. A five-member Regent's committee and a 12-member WNCC advisory committee spearheaded the selection process.

Dr. Lucey is a former physics professor who is now vice president for academic affairs at Alfred State College of Technology, New York. She brings 25 years of public higher education experience to her new post. She spent more than two decades at Jamestown Community College in Jamestown, N.Y., as a professor of physics, associate dean of instruction, chair of the applied sciences and mathematics division and then dean of academic affairs.

In 1995, Lucey joined Alfred State College as vice president, where she had academic responsibility for multiple teaching sites, as well as oversight of budgets and staff.

We are excited about getting to Western Nevada and being part of this most exciting and growing community," said Lucey. "I believe that Western Nevada Community College will continue to play a pivotal role in the economic growth and cultural development of this beautiful Western region. To put it succinctly, I am thrilled to have the opportunity to lead this intellectual gem!"

Board of Regents Chair Jill Derby expressed unequivocal support for Lucey. "Dr. Lucey is a bright, visionary leader, people friendly and technology smart. I'm very optimistic about the future of WNCC under her able and enthusiastic leadership," she said.

Lucey's formal education includes a doctor of philosophy degree in theoretical high energy physics from Brown University, and post-doctoral work in gravity at Princeton University and in relativity at the University of Pittsburgh. She also completed a college management program in 1994 at Carnegie-Mellon University's H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy, and a leaders program at the National Institute for Leadership Development in Rochester, N.Y.

Lucey was awarded a 3-year contract with a salary of $130,000.

Western Nevada Community College is a comprehensive community college which serves more than 6,000 credit students each semester in seven counties of western Nevada. Based in the state capital at its Carson City campus, WNCC also provides a full-service campus in Fallon and a growing new campus in Minden/Gardnerville, as well as teaching centers in Dayton, Fernley, Hawthorne, Lake Tahoe, Lovelock, Yerington and Virginia City.

Comprised of two doctoral-granting universities, four comprehensive community colleges and one environmental research institution, the University and Community College System of Nevada serves the educational and job training needs of the nation's fastest growing state. As Nevada's only system of higher education, the UCCSN provides educational opportunities to more than 82,000 students.