Lee Conerly Promoted to Dean of Academic Instruction at Coastal Alabama Community College

BAY MINETTE, Ala. — Coastal Alabama Community College has named Dr. Lee Conerly its new dean of academic instruction, elevating a longtime faculty member and administrator who has helped guide the college’s academic programs for the past six years.

Conerly has served as the college’s associate dean of academic instruction since 2020. She brings more than two decades of experience in higher education and secondary education to the new role, according to the college.

Coastal Alabama President Dr. Aaron Milner said Conerly’s record made her a natural choice to lead the college’s instructional programs.

“Dr. Conerly has shown a long-standing dedication to student success, academic excellence, and faculty support,” Milner said in a news release. “Because of this, I am confident in her ability to lead our academic instructional programs in this new role.”

Six years as associate dean

As associate dean, Conerly provided ongoing guidance to the college’s academic faculty. Among her responsibilities was overseeing onboarding programs for new faculty members, the orientation and support that helps instructors get established in the classroom and learn the college’s policies and expectations.

She also led a college initiative focused on students who have served in the military. The effort recognized student veterans for their service while helping connect them with resources and support as they worked toward their degrees and credentials.

Outside the college, Conerly has served as a reviewer for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, known as SACSCOC. The commission is the regional body that accredits colleges and universities across the South, including Coastal Alabama. Reviewers serve on teams that evaluate other institutions during accreditation visits, work that gives them a close look at how colleges measure and document academic quality.

From the classroom to administration

Conerly’s path to the dean’s office began in the classroom. She started her career teaching middle and high school English in Clarke County before moving into higher education.

At Coastal Alabama, she taught English, humanities and speech courses and later served as division chair of English, Humanities and Fine Arts before moving into academic administration.

She has also taken on leadership roles at the state level. Conerly served as vice president of the Alabama Community College Instructional Administrator Association from 2023 to 2025 and became the organization’s president for the 2025-2026 term. The association brings together the academic administrators who oversee instruction at community colleges across the state.

Honors and recognition

Conerly’s work has earned recognition at the college, state and national levels:

• Coastal Alabama Community College Academic Faculty of the Year, 2018
• Alabama Community College System Award of Excellence as Administrator of the Year, 2022
• Phi Theta Kappa Distinguished Administrator Award, 2024
• Induction into the Phi Theta Kappa Alumni Hall of Honor, 2024

Phi Theta Kappa is the international honor society for students at two-year colleges. Its Distinguished Administrator Award recognizes college leaders who support the society’s chapters and students.

Education

Conerly is herself a product of the college she now helps lead. She earned an Associate of Science from Faulkner State Community College, one of the schools that later became part of Coastal Alabama.

She went on to earn a Bachelor of Science from the University of South Alabama, a Master of Secondary Education in Language Arts from the University of West Alabama and a Ph.D. in Humanities from Faulkner University.

About Coastal Alabama Community College

Coastal Alabama Community College was formed in 2017 through the consolidation of three longtime southwest Alabama community colleges: Faulkner State Community College, Jefferson Davis Community College and Alabama Southern Community College. Alabama Aviation College was later folded into the institution in 2018.

The college serves a six-county region of southwest Alabama, with locations in Atmore, Bay Minette, Brewton, Fairhope, Foley, Gilbertown, Gulf Shores, Mobile, Monroeville and Thomasville. It is accredited by SACSCOC to award associate degrees, and a number of its programs, including nursing, dental assisting, culinary arts, surgical technology and paramedic training, carry additional specialized accreditation.

The college has been growing. In September 2025, Coastal Alabama reported a 17% enrollment increase, which it said made it the second fastest-growing community college in Alabama and one of the three largest in the state. At that time the college counted about 8,800 for-credit students and nearly 2,500 adult education and workforce development students, for a total of more than 10,000.

What a dean of academic instruction does

At a community college, the dean of academic instruction typically oversees the transfer and general education programs that prepare students to continue at four-year universities, along with the faculty who teach them. That work includes course offerings and scheduling, faculty hiring and evaluation, curriculum and the academic standards reviewed during accreditation.

For Coastal Alabama, a multi-campus institution with a growing student body, that role includes coordinating instruction across locations that stretch from the Baldwin County coast to the rural counties to the north.

The college did not announce whether it plans to fill the associate dean position Conerly is leaving.

More information

Students and families with questions about academic programs at Coastal Alabama can find information on the college’s website, coastalalabama.edu, or contact any of its campuses.