Helm replaces Laws in college's top academic job

Midway College Interim President Robert Vogel has named Dr. Marlene M. Helm vice president for academic affairs and made that the new top academic position at the college. That rank had belonged to the position of provost, held by Sarah Laws under William "Butch" Drake, who resigned as president last month. The provost title has been abolished and Laws is "working on accreditation-related projects," college spokeswoman Ellen Gregory said.

Helm, a former state secretary of education, arts and humanities, has been with the college since the spring 2011 semester when she became chair of the Teacher Education Graduate Program, the school's first master's level program in education. Before that, she was social-services commissioner in the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government and worked at Morehead State University, Eastern Kentucky University, Georgetown College, the Fayette and Scott county school systems. She was state education secretary in the second term of Gov. Paul Patton, in 1999-2003.

Helm received her master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Kentucky and her bachelor's degree in elementary education from Kentucky State University.