Gregory J. Hamann has been named the new president of Linn-Benton Community College and will start work Feb. 1.

The LBCC Board of Education made the appointment Wednesday evening.

Hamann, 56, is president of Clatsop Community College in Astoria. He succeeds Rita Cavin, who is retiring after a 44-year career in education, including the last six as LBCC’s first woman president. She will remain in office through Jan. 31, 2010.

The board made its appointment following an executive session. Board chairman Richard Running, of Albany, called Hamann after the unanimous vote.

“It’s absolutely wonderful news for me,” Hamann told the board over speaker phone. “I’m very excited about being a part of LBCC.”

Running’s phone call caught Hamann in the middle of chairing a Northwest Regional Education Services  board meeting.

“Greg is known as a brilliant collaborative and articulate leader,” Cavin said. “His presidency at Clatsop started a month before I started at LBCC. We came to Oregon together. He has gone to bat for LBCC before, helping me get equalized appropriations.”

Hamann, originally from Minnesota, has taught middle school, managed a counseling and residence program at Bethel College in Minnesota, served as dean of administration at Northwest College in Wyoming and worked in student services and administration for 12 years at Whitworth College in Spokane.

A graduate of the University of Minnesota with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and social studies, he holds a doctorate in educational leadership from Gonzaga University and a master’s in counseling psychology from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

Although a contract has not been signed, Hamann’s salary is expected to be about $160,000.

“The board believes he will do an excellent job in leading LBCC to support our students and the workforce training needs of our community,” Running said. “Everyone who has met Greg has been very impressed.”

LBCC had narrowed its search to Hamann and Darlene G. Miller, who recently had served as president at Manchester Community College in New Hampshire.

The board thanked Cavin.

“Rita has done a magnificent job. The changes she has made have been very beneficial to this college,” said board member Hal Brayton of Lebanon.