SMITHFIELD — Dr. Tim Brewer didn’t start his education career in a classroom. He started so far outside one, in fact, that he was in the woods.

“Early on, I wanted to be a park ranger,” Brewer said. “The romance of being single and living in the woods wore off real quick.” So he wandered out of the trees to become a forestry teacher at Wayne Community College in Goldsboro. After 16 years of community-college experience, he finds himself one of five finalists to become the next president of Johnston Community College.

“It’s all about serving students and serving the community,” Brewer said last week during a forum that drew mostly JCC faculty and staff.

He faced a gamut of questions; one of the first was about the idea of global education.

“If [students] are going to be competitive in the real world, they have to be globally aware,” he said.

Brewer, now a vice president at Mitchell Community College, also stressed the importance of vocational education. “[Continuing education] and vocational programs are where the action’s at right now,” he said, adding that they were good draws for stimulus money.

One faculty member asked Brewer how much fundraising experience he had. He responded that he had often been “in the room,” but not “at the table,” though he thought he would be effective as the face of the school.

“A good salesman believes in the product, and I certainly believe in the product,” Brewer said.

Mitchell’s current boss had good things to say. “He’s easy going, very approachable; I just think he’s got so many good traits that make him ideal,” Mitchell President Douglas Eason said in a phone interview. Eason added that Brewer had a wide array of community-college experience.

When one forum-goer asked about his vision for JCC, Brewer suggested that the school should stay its course. “There’s not a

whole lot here that’s broken,” he said. “It’s a matter of picking up the ball and continuing to run with it.”

Lawrence Rouse has been here before

SMITHFIELD — For Dr. Lawrence Rouse, visiting Johnston County was as much a homecoming as a job opportunity.

Rouse, a finalist for Johnston Community College president, once served as dean of student services at JCC and recognized more than a few faces at his faculty and staff forum last week.

“It felt not like going to a strange place, but coming home,” Rouse told the crowd, recalling his first job interview here decades ago.

In his introduction, he made a bullet list of his strengths for the job. He said he is already familiar with JCC and even helped plan some of its buildings.

Rouse also said he knows the community. “I can’t come to JCC without wearing my Rotary pin,” he said.

Finally, Rouse said, he cares deeply about JCC and the residents of Johnston. “They’re looking for hope; they’re looking for opportunities; they’re looking for jobs,” he said.

Later in the forum, Rouse stressed the idea of promoting leadership. He has established a “leadership academy” for staff at James Sprunt Community College, where he is president, and said the idea could work here.

When an audience member asked him about his vision for the next five years, Rouse said he had high ambitions and that the school could become a “premiere” institution on a national level.

Rouse also said vocational programs would become more important. “Vocational programs are going to take on a whole new aspect,” he said, explaining that many community colleges had “lost sight” of them while focusing on transfer programs.

He also said the school needed to stay on top of technology. “I am a champion of technology,” Rouse said, adding that he was an early Palm Pilot adopter.

As president, Rouse said, he would have a close bond with students, faculty and staff. “You really need to keep your finger on the pulse,” he said.

Zettie Williams, chairwoman of the board of trustees at James Sprunt, said Rouse is a hard-working and even-handed leader who never acts rashly.

“That’s what I like about Dr. Rouse,” she said in a phone interview. “He has a personality that welcomes that extra step that he needs in getting something accomplished, and I can admire him for that.”