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GADSDEN — Gadsden State Community College last week welcomed Dr. William Blow as interim president. Blow will serve as interim during the search for a replacement for Dr. W. Darryl Harrison. According to Dr. Freida Hill, chancellor of the Alabama Community College System, the official search procedure will begin next month. 

Most recently, Blow served as interim president of Alabama Southern Community College from July 2009 until June 2010 when Dr. Reginald Sykes was appointed as president. He previously served as deputy executive director of the Alabama Commission on Higher Education (ACHE) with responsibilities for Academic and Fiscal Affairs, including academic program evaluation, approval and review, policy formulation, development of the annual consolidated budget recommendation and statewide long-range planning for the system of higher education in Alabama. 

Before becoming deputy executive director, Blow was the associate director for Academic Affairs at ACHE.  He also served twice as the interim executive director of the Commission, the position he held at the time of his retirement in 2004. 

Blow served for ten years as academic dean of Patrick Henry State Junior College (now Alabama Southern) before joining the ACHE staff.  Prior to that, he served as associate professor and Dean of Men at Athens College (now Athens State University) for two years.  

He holds a doctorate in Higher Education Administration from Auburn University, and is a graduate of the Harvard University Institute for Educational Management.